Final Fantasy 5 (V) Pixel Remaster: Ultimate Journey Guide 🦉

🌳 So You Want to Punch a Tree? 👊 A Hero’s Guide to Grand Larceny and Wardrobe Changes

Welcome, brave adventurer, to the amazing world of Final Fantasy V Pixel Remaster! adventurers 🌍. You’ve stumbled upon a game that, for many years, was the quirky middle child of the 16-bit Final Fantasy family, sandwiched between the high-stakes melodrama of Final Fantasy IV and the operatic, world-shattering epic of Final Fantasy VI. While its siblings were busy with redemption arcs and tales of rebellion, Final Fantasy V Pixel Remaster was off having a grand old time, more interested in a good old-fashioned adventure filled with warmth, humor, and an absolutely staggering number of costume changes. 🧑‍🎤👩‍🚀👮‍♀️

This is a game where the main villain is a malevolent tree-wizard named Exdeath 🌲😡, whose primary motivation seems to be a deep-seated hatred of… well, everything that isn’t a void. Your party consists of a happy-go-lucky wanderer 🚶‍♂️, a princess 👸, a pirate captain who is secretly also a princess 🏴‍☠️🤫, and an old man with amnesia who is secretly a king from another world 👴👑. It’s a story that doesn’t take itself too seriously, and that’s precisely its greatest strength. The lighthearted, often comical tone isn’t a bug; it’s a feature! It creates a vibrant, colorful world that serves as the ultimate sandbox, a playground designed from the ground up to encourage one thing above all else: experimentation 🧪.

This guide is your master key 🔑 to that sandbox. We’re not just here to tell you where to go or what to do. Plenty of guides can do that. We’re here to delve into the strategic philosophy behind the game’s legendary Job System, to explain the ‘why’ behind every optimal choice, and to transform you from a simple crystal-saver into a master tactician who can bend the game’s mechanics to your will. We’ll explore the intricate dance of abilities, the subtle art of stat growth, and the sheer, unadulterated joy of discovering a combination so broken it makes the final boss look like a common goblin. 🤯

So, strap on your boots, check your inventory for Potions, and prepare for a journey. It’s time to learn why Final Fantasy V Pixel Remaster is not just a game you play, but a system you master.

✨ Pixel Perfect: What This Version Is (and Isn’t)

This guide is written specifically for the Final Fantasy V Pixel Remaster, available on modern platforms (like PC and consoles) 🎮. This version is, for many, the definitive way to experience the adventure. Square Enix has lovingly revived the game with a host of improvements that make it more accessible and enjoyable than ever before.

Here’s what you can expect from the Pixel Remaster:

🎨 Universally Updated 2D Graphics: The iconic pixel art has been beautifully updated by the original artist, Kazuko Shibuya, making every environment and character sprite pop with new life and color.
🎵 A Rearranged Soundtrack: The legendary composer Nobuo Uematsu has overseen a complete rearrangement of the soundtrack. For purists, the option to switch back to the original Super Famicom-era chiptunes is also available!
👍 Quality-of-Life Improvements: The game features a modernized user interface, auto-battle options, and a handy autosave feature that can be a real lifesaver.
🚀 Gameplay Boosters: Perhaps the most significant addition for both new and returning players are the boost features. These allow you to adjust the amount of Experience (EXP), Ability Points (ABP), and Gil you gain from battles, with multipliers ranging from 0 to 4. You can even turn off random encounters entirely, allowing for a smoother journey if you just want to experience the story or get to the next boss.

Now, for a crucial point of clarification: This guide does NOT cover the bonus content from the Game Boy Advance (GBA) version of Final Fantasy V Pixel Remaster. 🚫

Veterans of that version might remember four extra jobs: the Gladiator, Oracle, Cannoneer, and Necromancer, as well as a sprawling post-game dungeon called the Sealed Temple. These elements are not present in the Pixel Remaster. While they were an interesting addition, they were never part of the original game’s design, and the Pixel Remaster aims to be a faithful recreation of that original vision. So, if you’re looking for strategies on how to use the Cannoneer’s !Combine ability, you’re in the wrong guide. We’re sticking to the classic, perfectly balanced chaos of the original 22 jobs.

🥳 The Philosophy of Fun

The central thesis of this guide is simple: Final Fantasy V Pixel Remaster is a puzzle box, and the Job System is the key. 🧩🔑 The game’s true narrative isn’t just the story of Bartz and his friends; it’s the story you create in the menu screen, the tale of a White Mage who learns to punch like a Monk, or a Knight who masters the arcane arts of Time Magic.

To truly master this game, you must understand the strategic philosophy that underpins its design. It’s not enough to know that !Rapid Fire is a good ability. You must understand why it’s good, how it interacts with !Spellblade and Dual-Wield, and in which specific scenarios it becomes the most powerful offensive command in the game. You must see jobs not as static roles, but as collections of tools to be acquired, mixed, and matched. 🧰

The game’s design actively encourages this mindset. The lack of rigid, story-defined roles for its characters is a deliberate choice that mirrors the complete freedom of the Job System. Bartz is not “The Warrior,” and Lenna is not “The Healer.” They are blank slates 📝, vessels for your strategic creativity. The lighthearted story removes the pressure of making a “wrong” choice. In a world where you can have a serious conversation with a turtle sage 🐢, who’s to say that making your main healer a Dancer is a bad idea? This freedom is the game’s soul. Our goal is to give you the knowledge to embrace that freedom completely and craft your own ultimate adventure.

🗺️ Chapter 1: The Fundamentals of Adventuring (Without a Map)

Before you can save the world from a warlock who is also a tree, you need to understand the heroes you’ll be guiding and the magnificent system that lets you turn them into anything from a black-belt-wearing bard to a frog-casting ninja. This chapter covers the absolute essentials: your party members and the intricate mechanics of the Job System.

💖 The Four Warriors of Light (Give or Take)

At the start of your journey, you’ll command a motley crew of four adventurers, each with their own personality and, more importantly for our purposes, their own unique set of base stats. While the Job System will eventually allow you to mold them into anything you desire, their innate statistics provide a gentle nudge toward certain roles in the early game.

Bartz Klauser: chocobo 🐦. He’s the quintessential reluctant hero, drawn into the conflict by fate. With the highest base Strength and Stamina of the initial group, he’s a natural fit for physical, front-line jobs like Knight and Monk.
Lenna Charlotte Tycoon: 👸 The kind-hearted princess of Tycoon, driven by a deep sense of duty and compassion for all living things, especially Wind Drakes 🐉. She possesses the highest base Magic stat, making her an ideal candidate for any and all magical professions, from White Mage to Summoner.
Faris Scherwiz: 🏴‍☠️ The enigmatic and gruff captain of a pirate ship. Initially presenting as a man, Faris is revealed to be Lenna’s long-lost sister, Sarisa 🤫. With a perfectly balanced stat spread and high Agility, Faris is the ultimate utility character, capable of excelling in speedy jobs like Thief and Ninja, or adapting to any role the party requires.
Galuf Halm Baldesion: 👴 An old man who crashes to the earth in a meteorite with a bad case of amnesia. He’s fiercely loyal and provides much of the game’s comic relief. Stat-wise, he’s similar to Bartz, with high Strength and Stamina, making him another excellent physical fighter.
Krile Mayer Baldesion: 👧 Galuf’s spirited and powerful granddaughter, who joins the party later in the story. She inherits all of Galuf’s stats, levels, and mastered job abilities in a poignant and mechanically brilliant moment of succession. Krile’s own base stats are geared toward magic and speed, making her a natural replacement for Lenna in the caster role or a speedy hybrid fighter.

Stats as Suggestions, Not Rules 💡

It’s crucial to understand that these base stats are merely a starting point. While making Bartz a Knight and Lenna a White Mage will give you an easier time in the first few hours, the stat modifications provided by the jobs themselves are far more impactful. A character’s stats are determined by the formula: Base Stat + Job Modifier. For example, the Knight job provides a massive $+23$ bonus to Strength, while the Black Mage provides a $+31$ bonus to Magic. These powerful modifiers can easily turn a magically-inclined character like Lenna into a physical powerhouse, or a brawler like Bartz into a competent mage.

The strategic choice is yours: Do you play to their strengths for early-game dominance, or build against type to create more versatile characters in the long run? The beauty of Final Fantasy V Pixel Remaster is that both are valid paths to victory.

Character	Strength	Agility	Stamina	Magic
Bartz	28	25	27	25
Lenna	25	26	25	28
Galuf	27	24	28	24
Faris	27	27	26	26
Krile	25	28	24	27

🎩 The Job System: A Philosophical Treatise on Sartorial Supremacy

This is it. The main event. The Job System is the heart and soul of Final Fantasy V Pixel Remaster, a deep and flexible system of character customization that has been imitated for decades but rarely surpassed. Understanding its every nuance is the key to unlocking the game’s true potential.

ABP, Job Levels, and Abilities 📈

The system revolves around two types of experience gained from battle: EXP and ABP.

Experience Points (EXP): These increase a character’s overall level, which in turn raises their base HP and MP.
Ability Points (ABP): These are invested into your currently equipped job. Accumulating enough ABP will raise that job’s level, unlocking new abilities.

Abilities come in three main flavors:

Command Abilities: These are actions you can select in battle, always preceded by an exclamation point (e.g., !Steal, !Jump, !White). Each job has a default command ability. You can also equip one learned command ability from another job into a free slot.
Passive Abilities: These provide automatic benefits without needing to be selected. Examples include the Monk’s Counter or the Samurai’s Shirahadori (Evade). These abilities are only active while you are in that specific job or if you equip them in a free ability slot.
Innate Abilities: These are special passive abilities that are permanently tied to a character once a job is “Mastered” (all of its abilities are learned). These mastered abilities are then automatically active when the character is a Freelancer or a Mime. This is a critical concept we will explore further. Examples include the Ninja’s Dual-Wield and the Thief’s Sprint.

The Art of the Dip: Strategic Ability Acquisition 🏊‍♀️

One of the most important strategies in Final Fantasy V Pixel Remaster is the “dip.” You don’t have to fully commit to a job to reap its benefits. Often, it’s more effective to switch a character to a new job just long enough to learn one or two key abilities, then switch them back to their primary role or onto a new one.

For example, you might have a character destined to be a powerful Black Mage 💣. You could temporarily switch them to the Monk job just long enough to learn Barehanded (30 ABP). Now, you can switch them back to Black Mage and equip Barehanded. Suddenly, your squishy mage has the same base Strength as a Monk and can deliver a respectable punch 👊 when they’re not casting spells, making them useful even when conserving MP. This principle of “dipping” for specific skills is fundamental to creating powerful and versatile hybrid characters.

The Freelancer & Mime Endgame: The Power of Inheritance 👑

Here lies the true genius of the Job System. At first glance, the starting Freelancer job seems useless, as it learns no abilities of its own. The secret Mime job, found late in the game, also seems niche. However, these two jobs are the ultimate endgame classes because of their unique inheritance properties.

When a character masters a job (learns all of its abilities), two things happen for their Freelancer and Mime classes:

Innate Ability Inheritance: They permanently gain any innate passive abilities from the mastered job. Master the Thief, and your Freelancer can now find hidden passages and sprint without equipping any special skills. Master the Ninja, and your Freelancer can Dual-Wield by default.
Stat Inheritance: This is the most powerful and often misunderstood mechanic. The Freelancer and Mime jobs don’t just have base stats; they inherit the single highest positive stat modifier from any job that character has mastered.

Let’s break that down. The Monk job provides the highest Strength bonus in the game 💪. The Thief provides the highest Agility bonus 🏃‍♀️. The Summoner provides one of the highest Magic bonuses 🔮. If a single character masters all three of these jobs, their Freelancer will not have average stats. It will have the Strength of a Monk, the Agility of a Thief, AND the Magic of a Summoner, all at the same time.

This transforms the act of leveling jobs from a simple process of acquiring skills into a long-term investment strategy. You are not just mastering the Monk to get the HP +30% ability; you are harvesting its Strength and Stamina stats for your endgame Freelancer. This is the ultimate “why” behind the grind. Every job you master is a deposit into your character’s stat bank 🏦, allowing you to build a “super character” who is simultaneously the strongest, fastest, and most magically potent being in existence. The Freelancer can then equip any two command abilities of your choosing, while the Mime gets three slots, making them the ultimate customizable powerhouses.

🧭 Chapter 2: The Grand Tour – A World (or Three) of Hurt

This walkthrough will guide you through the major story beats of Final Fantasy V Pixel Remaster, highlighting critical missable items, enemies for your Bestiary, opportunities to learn Blue Magic, and strategies for the game’s many memorable boss encounters. We won’t hold your hand through every corridor, but we’ll make sure you don’t miss anything important on your quest to stop a tree from consuming reality.

World 1: The Wind Crystal Shatters 💎

Our story begins with a bang—or rather, a sudden lack of wind 🍃. The crystals that maintain the world’s elements are in trouble, and it’s up to a ragtag group of strangers to figure out why.

Tycoon Meteorite to Tule ☄️

After the opening scenes introduce our hero Bartz and his faithful chocobo Boko, you’ll be drawn to a nearby meteorite crash. Here you’ll meet Lenna and an amnesiac Galuf, and after a brief tutorial battle, your party is formed.

🚨 MISSABLE ALERT! 🚨

Before you leave the meteorite area with your new friends, head to the southeast corner of the screen. Hidden beneath the forest canopy is a treasure chest containing a Phoenix Down. This is the first of many missable items in the game. The area becomes inaccessible after you leave, so grab it now to start your 100% completion journey on the right foot.

🤔 LONG-TERM STRATEGY: The Brave Blade vs. Chicken Knife 🤔

As you begin your adventure, it’s worth considering a choice that will only present itself dozens of hours later. Late in the game, you will have the option to acquire one of two ultimate weapons: the Brave Blade 🗡️ or the Chicken Knife 🐔.

The Brave Blade starts with an immense attack power of 150 but loses 1 point of power every time you flee from a battle.
The Chicken Knife starts weak but gains power with every escape, eventually becoming one of the strongest weapons in the game. It also has a chance to make you automatically flee when you try to attack with it.

For a perfect Brave Blade, you must commit to never running from a single battle. If you prefer the power of the Chicken Knife or simply value the strategic option of escaping, feel free to run as you please. We’ll remind you of this choice later, but the decision starts now.

From the meteorite, head north through the Road to Tule Cave. The cave contains a single chest and a healing spring. After a brief and humorous encounter at the Pirates’ Hideout 🏴‍☠️, you’ll gain control of their ship and can sail to the nearby town of Tule. In Tule, be sure to buy new gear, stock up on spells, and play the piano in the pub (1/8) 🎹 after watching the dancers perform.

Wind Shrine 🌬️

Your first major dungeon is the Wind Shrine, located to the northeast of Tule. The winds have stopped, and the crystal at the shrine’s peak is the cause.

Objective: Ascend the shrine and investigate the Wind Crystal.
Enemies: Black Goblin, White Serpent, Moldwynd, Mani Wizard.
🔵 BLUE MAGIC FIELD GUIDE: This is your first opportunity to start your Blue Magic collection. To learn a spell, a character with the Learning ability must be hit by the spell and survive the battle.
- Goblin Punch: Learned from Black Goblins. A weak but reliable physical attack that costs 0 MP and never misses if the caster and target are the same level.
- Aero: Learned from Moldwynds. A basic wind-elemental spell that will be useful for the next several hours.
🎁 New Jobs Unlocked: Upon reaching the crystal, it will shatter, bestowing upon you the shards of six jobs: Knight, Monk, Thief, White Mage, Black Mage, and Blue Mage. Congratulations, your dress-up adventure has officially begun!

⚔️ BOSS BATTLE: Wing Raptor ⚔️

HP: 250
Weaknesses: None
Pattern: The Wing Raptor follows a strict and simple pattern. For two turns, its wings are open, and it will attack with either a standard physical strike or its signature Breath Wing attack, which deals damage equal to 25% of each character’s max HP. After these two turns, it will close its wings, entering a defensive stance. If you attack it physically while its wings are closed, it will counter with a powerful Claw attack. It will do nothing for two turns in this stance before opening its wings again.
Strategy: This boss is your first exam in pattern recognition, a skill that will be vital throughout Final Fantasy V Pixel Remaster. The strategy is simple: attack with everything you have when its wings are open. When it closes its wings, take the two turns to heal your party with Potions or have your characters use the Defend command to reduce incoming damage. Do not attack it while it’s defending. Be patient, follow the rhythm, and the overgrown chicken will fall.

Torna Canal & Ship Graveyard 🚢👻

After a quick stop back at the Pirates’ Hideout to unlock more treasure and recruit Boko, your journey takes you east through the Torna Canal.

🚨 MISSABLE BESTIARY ALERT! 🚨

The Torna Canal is a one-time-only area. The enemies here, Sucker and Octokraken, appear nowhere else in the game. Ensure you encounter both of them to add them to your bestiary before you face the boss at the end of the canal.

⚔️ BOSS BATTLE: Karlabos ⚔️

HP: 650
Weaknesses: ⚡ Lightning
Pattern: Karlabos has a few nasty tricks. Its standard physical attack is manageable, but it can also use Feeler to paralyze a character. Its most dangerous move is Tail Screw, which instantly reduces a character’s HP to single digits, leaving them vulnerable to a knockout blow.
Strategy: This fight is a straightforward damage race. If you changed a character to a Black Mage, have them spam the Thunder spell to exploit its weakness. A Blue Mage with Goblin Punch can also deal consistent damage. Keep your party’s HP up, and be ready to heal anyone hit by Tail Screw immediately.

Defeating Karlabos results in a shipwreck, stranding you in the eerie Ship Graveyard.

Enemies: Skeleton, Calcruthl, Undead Hulk, Mind Flusher. As these are undead, Cure spells and Potions will damage them.
Hidden Item: Just after you disembark from the first ship, walk south of the main path onto a small rocky outcropping to find a hidden Flail.

⚔️ BOSS BATTLE: Siren ⚔️

HP: 900
Weaknesses: 🔥 Fire (Undead form), ✨ Cure (Undead form)
Pattern: Siren operates on a rhythm. She begins in her living form, where she has high Magic Defense but low Physical Defense. She’ll cast various buffs and debuffs for three turns. After her third turn, she transforms into her undead form. In this state, her Physical Defense skyrockets, but she becomes vulnerable to Fire and healing magic. She will use physical attacks for three turns before reverting to her living form.
Strategy: This battle is a dance. When Siren is alive, hit her with your strongest physical attackers like Knights and Monks. Have your mages heal or defend. As soon as she transforms, switch tactics. Have your physical attackers use Potions on her, and have your Black Mage cast Fire. A White Mage’s Cure spell will also deal significant damage. Simply match your attack style to her current form, and she’ll go down. A creative early-game solution involves a Beastmaster: if you managed to Catch a Carcurser from North Mountain, Releasing it here has a chance to instantly petrify and defeat her.

North Mountain and the Path to Karnak ⛰️

After escaping the graveyard, you’ll arrive in the town of Carwen. Stock up on supplies and play the piano in the pub (2/8) 🎹. Your next destination is North Mountain, where a dragon has been sighted.

Enemies: Rock Slug, Gaelicat, Cockatrice, Headstone.
🔵 BLUE MAGIC FIELD GUIDE:
- Flash: Learned from Headstones. You must use an Ether on a Headstone to restore its MP, allowing it to cast the spell, which inflicts Darkness on your party.

⚔️ BOSS BATTLE: Magissa & Forza ⚔️

HP: 650 (Magissa), 850 (Forza)
Weaknesses: None
Pattern: Magissa will attack with basic elemental spells and Aero. When her HP drops below 300, she summons her husband, Forza, a purely physical attacker, and casts Regen on him.
Strategy: The key here is to silence Magissa. A White Mage’s Silence spell will completely neutralize her magical offense, leaving her helpless. Once she’s silenced, you can either whale on her with physical attacks or try to burst her down from just above 300 HP to defeat her before she can even summon Forza. If Forza does appear, a Black Mage can put him to sleep with Sleep, allowing you to focus on Magissa without interruption.

After the battle, you’ll rescue the Wind Drake, Hiryu 🐉, and gain the ability to fly to previously inaccessible locations. Your next stop is Castle Tycoon, Lenna’s home, where you can raid the treasury for some excellent gear, including the Healing Staff. Then, it’s on to the industrious kingdom of Karnak.

Karnak Castle and the Fire-Powered Ship 🔥🚢

Upon arriving in Karnak, you’ll be promptly thrown in jail. After a timely rescue, you’ll learn that the Fire Crystal, housed in the nearby Fire-Powered Ship, is dangerously unstable.

SIDEQUEST: Shiva ❄️

Before tackling the Fire-Powered Ship, it’s highly recommended to take a detour. Fly back to Walse Castle. In the basement, you can find and battle Shiva. She is weak to fire, so an Ifrit summon or Fira spell will make short work of her. Defeating her earns you the Shiva summon. This is a missable encounter if not completed before the end of the first world. While in the castle basement, you’ll find a prisoner named Lone Wolf. Do not free him. Doing so will cause you to lose out on some treasure later.

Dungeon: Fire-Powered Ship

Enemies: Crew Dust, Poltergeist, Defeater, Motor Trap.
🔵 BLUE MAGIC FIELD GUIDE:
- Self-Destruct: Learned from Motor Traps. Hitting them with a lightning-elemental attack will cause them to use this ability.
- Missile: Also learned from Motor Traps, but you must use a Beastmaster’s !Control ability to force them to cast it on your Blue Mage.

⚔️ BOSS BATTLE: Liquid Flame ⚔️

HP: 3000
Weaknesses: 🧊 Ice
Pattern: This boss is a shapeshifter with three forms: a humanoid, a hand, and a whirlwind. It changes form every time it’s hit. Each form has a different counterattack: the humanoid uses Blaze (party-wide damage), the hand uses a single-target Fira, and the whirlwind does nothing but is immune to physical attacks.
Strategy: Ice is the key. A Black Mage spamming Blizzara or the Shiva summon will deal heavy damage. A Mystic Knight with a Blizzara-enchanted sword is also incredibly effective. Be prepared to heal through its counterattacks. The Blue Magic spell Death Claw (if you learn it from the upcoming Iron Claw boss) has a chance to reduce its HP to single digits, trivializing the fight.

⏰ TIMED EVENT: Karnak Castle Escape ⏰

Defeating Liquid Flame causes the crystal to shatter, triggering a 10-minute countdown to escape the exploding Karnak Castle.

🚨 MISSABLE BESTIARY ALERT!: The enemies inside the castle during the escape—Sergeant, Sorcerer, Cur Nakk, and Gigas—are missable. Make sure to encounter all of them.
Treasure: The castle is filled with treasure chests. Many are guarded by monsters, but the rewards are well worth it, including the powerful Ribbon accessory and the Main Gauche dagger. A Thief with !Flee or !Smoke is invaluable here for quickly ending monster-in-a-box encounters.
🎁 New Jobs Unlocked: You’ll find the shards of the Fire Crystal, unlocking three new jobs: Beastmaster, Geomancer, and Ninja.

⚔️ BOSS BATTLE: Iron Claw ⚔️

HP: 900
Pattern: This fight begins against a Sergeant and three Cur Nakks. If you defeat the Sergeant quickly, the fight ends. However, if you want to fight Iron Claw (and you do, for his bestiary entry and Blue Magic), you must defeat the Cur Nakks first, which causes the Sergeant to transform.
🔵 BLUE MAGIC FIELD GUIDE:
- Death Claw: Learned from Iron Claw. This fantastic spell has a chance to paralyze the target and reduce their HP to a single digit. It’s a must-have for any aspiring Blue Mage.

The Library of the Ancients and the End of the World 📚

After escaping Karnak, your journey takes you to the ancient Library of the Ancients, a repository of forgotten knowledge.

Enemies: Page 32, Page 64, Page 128.
🔵 BLUE MAGIC FIELD GUIDE: This location is a treasure trove of Blue Magic.
- Level 5 Death: Learned from Page 64. This spell instantly kills all enemies whose level is a multiple of 5. It’s one of the most powerful abilities in the game and essential for ABP grinding later on. To learn it, one of your party members must have a level that is a multiple of 5.
- Off-Guard: Learned from Page 256. You must use !Control to make it cast this spell, which halves the target’s defense.
- Moon Flute: Also learned from Page 256. Inflicts Berserk on the entire party.

⚔️ BOSS BATTLE: Byblos ⚔️

HP: 3600
Weaknesses: 🔥 Fire
Pattern: Byblos uses a variety of physical and magical attacks. He counters physical attacks with Protect and magical attacks with Toad.
Strategy: Exploit his fire weakness. The Ifrit summon and Fira spell are your best friends here. A Mystic Knight with Fira Spellblade will tear through his HP. The Magic Hammer Blue Magic spell, which you can learn from him during this fight, is also useful for draining his MP.

After events at the Library, you gain access to the Fire-Powered Ship again. You can now explore the world more freely. This is a great time to hunt for more Blue Magic and the Ramuh summon ⚡, who appears as a random encounter in the forests near Istory. Your main quest will eventually lead you to the Ronka Ruins, the final dungeon of the first world.

Dungeon: Ronka Ruins

Enemies: Lamia, Enchanted Fan, Ghidra, Ronka Knight.
🎁 New Jobs Unlocked: The Earth Crystal awaits at the end, granting the final jobs of the original set: Samurai, Dragoon, Dancer, and Chemist.
🔵 BLUE MAGIC FIELD GUIDE:
- White Wind: Learned from Enchanted Fans. You MUST use !Control to make them cast this invaluable party-wide healing spell on you.
- 1000 Needles: Learned from Lamias (requires !Control). It deals exactly 1000 damage, making it incredibly powerful for this stage of the game.
- Level 4 Graviga: Learned from Ghidras. Requires a character with a level divisible by 4. It reduces the target’s HP by 75%.

Boss Gauntlet: The end of the Ronka Ruins features a series of boss fights, culminating in a battle against King Tycoon and finally, Exdeath himself. These fights will test everything you’ve learned so far. After a climactic battle, the first world comes to a dramatic close, and your adventure continues in a strange new land.

🧑‍🎨 Chapter 3: The Art of War(drobe) – A Compendium of Jobs

Welcome to the heart of the guide, the grand catalogue of careers, the encyclopedia of employment. Here we will dissect every single job available in Final Fantasy V Pixel Remaster, exploring their abilities, strategic purpose, and their unique synergies. This is where you’ll learn not just what a job does, but how to make it sing. 🎶

The Wind Crystal Jobs 💎

These are the first six jobs you acquire, forming the foundation of your party for the early game. They represent the classic archetypes of the Final Fantasy series.

Knight: The Tin Can That Can 🛡️

Overview & Role: The Knight is your quintessential front-line warrior. Clad in the heaviest armor and wielding the biggest swords, their job is to hit hard and protect the squishier members of the party. They are a bastion of reliability in the early game, though their straightforward approach is eventually outclassed by more complex physical builds.

Level	Ability	ABP Cost	Total ABP	Description
1	Cover	10	10	Automatically take physical hits for allies in critical health (HP is yellow).
2	!Guard	30	40	Negate all damage from the next physical attack.
3	Two-Handed	50	90	Wield a single sword, katana, or axe with both hands to double its attack power, sacrificing the ability to use a shield.
4	Equip Shields	100	190	Allows any job to equip shields.
5	Equip Armor	150	340	Allows any job to equip heavy armor.
6	Equip Swords	350	690	Allows any job to equip swords and knight swords.

Strategic Analysis & Synergies:
- 💥 Early Game Powerhouse: The Knight’s primary contribution in the first world is the Two-Handed ability. Equipping this allows the Knight to deal immense physical damage, often one-shotting common enemies and taking huge chunks out of boss HP. This makes them an ideal choice for a character like Bartz.
- 🤔 The Tanking Fallacy: While Cover and !Guard seem like classic tanking abilities, their utility is situational. Cover only triggers for allies who are already near death, making it a reactive last resort rather than a proactive defense. !Guard is more useful, especially against bosses with powerful, telegraphed physical attacks, but it consumes a turn that could be used for offense. A powerful synergy exists by giving a Monk the !Guard ability; if they guard and are attacked, Counter will still trigger, allowing them to retaliate without taking damage.
- 📉 The Obsolescence of Two-Handed: The Knight’s star begins to fade once the Ninja job is unlocked. The Ninja’s Dual-Wield ability also provides a massive damage boost but is generally more versatile, as it works with a wider variety of weapons and allows for two chances to hit instead of one. While Two-Handed remains a solid choice, it is eventually overshadowed.
Path to Mastery: 📉 Not a high priority. The most valuable ability, Two-Handed, is learned early. The various “Equip” abilities are useful for specific hybrid builds but are not universally essential. Mastering the Knight for its stat bonuses is also suboptimal, as the Monk provides better Strength and Stamina boosts for a Freelancer. Dip in for Two-Handed, then move on.

Monk: Punching Your Problems Away 👊

Overview & Role: The Monk is a pure physical damage dealer who scoffs at the need for weapons and armor. They boast the highest HP and Strength in the game, relying on their bare fists and martial arts to deliver devastating blows. They are an early-game wrecking ball and a long-term investment for any physically-oriented character.

Level	Ability	ABP Cost	Total ABP	Description
1	!Focus	15	15	Skips one turn to deliver a double-damage attack on the next.
2	Barehanded	30	45	Grants the user the Monk’s high unarmed attack power, even in other jobs.
3	!Chakra	45	90	Restores a small amount of HP and cures Poison and Darkness for the user.
4	Counter	60	150	Grants a chance to automatically counter any physical attack with a regular attack.
5	HP +10%	100	250	Passively increases maximum HP by 10%.
6	HP +20%	150	400	Passively increases maximum HP by 20%.
7	HP +30%	300	700	Passively increases maximum HP by 30%.

Strategic Analysis & Synergies:
- 🥊 The Barehanded Revolution: The Monk’s most transformative ability is Barehanded. Equipping this on any other job, particularly mages, is a game-changer. A White Mage with Barehanded is no longer a liability when not casting spells; they can now deliver a powerful punch, effectively giving them the Monk’s impressive Strength stat. This single ability dramatically increases the versatility of your entire party.
- 🔄 Counter-Intelligence: Counter is one of the best passive abilities in the game. It provides free, off-turn damage and can be exploited in numerous ways. A Knight with Counter who uses !Guard will still counterattack after negating the damage. A character with high evasion who dodges an attack will still counter. It is a fantastic source of consistent, passive damage throughout the entire game.
- 🏦 Long-Term Investment: The Monk’s true value lies in mastery. The stacked HP +X% abilities are powerful on their own, but mastering the Monk job provides the highest Strength and Stamina bonuses for the Freelancer and Mime classes. Any character you intend to make a physical powerhouse in the endgame should master the Monk job. It is a foundational investment that pays dividends.
Path to Mastery: ⭐ Essential for at least one physical character. The stat bonuses are unmatched, and the abilities are universally useful. Dip everyone in for Barehanded early on, and have your primary physical attacker fully master the job over the of the game.

Thief: It’s Not Stealing, It’s Aggressive Treasure Hunting 🏃‍♀️💨

Overview & Role: The Thief is a master of speed, utility, and pilfering. While not the strongest fighter, their high Agility means they get more turns than anyone else. Their primary role is not combat, but support: stealing rare items from enemies, ensuring first strikes, and navigating the world with unparalleled speed.

Level	Ability	ABP Cost	Total ABP	Description
1	Find Passages	10	10	Reveals hidden passages in dungeons and towns.
2	!Flee	20	30	Instantly escape from any non-boss battle.
3	Sprint	30	60	Allows the character to dash on the world map and in towns.
4	!Steal	50	110	Attempt to steal an item from an enemy.
5	Vigilance	75	185	Prevents being ambushed (back attacks).
6	!Mug	150	335	Attacks and attempts to steal in a single action.
7	Artful Dodger	300	635	Grants the user the Thief’s high Agility, even in other jobs.

Strategic Analysis & Synergies:
- 🖐️ The Five-Finger Discount: The !Steal ability is the Thief’s main draw. Many enemies and bosses hold rare and powerful equipment that can only be obtained by stealing. The most famous examples are the full set of Genji equipment, stolen piece-by-piece from the recurring boss Gilgamesh across several encounters. A Thief is not just recommended; they are practically mandatory for acquiring the best gear. The Thief’s Gloves accessory, found later, doubles the success rate of !Steal, making it even more reliable.
- ⚡ Need for Speed: The Thief boasts the highest Agility in the game. Mastering the job and inheriting this stat bonus via the Freelancer class is the key to building the fastest possible character. High Agility means more turns, which translates to more damage, more healing, and more control over the flow of battle.
- 🗺️ Quality of Life Kings: The innate abilities Find Passages and Sprint are invaluable for exploration. While they can be equipped as commands, mastering the Thief job so your Freelancer has them permanently is a huge convenience. Vigilance is also a fantastic passive ability that prevents frustrating and dangerous back attacks.
Path to Mastery: 👍 Highly recommended for at least one character, typically Faris due to her balanced stats and pirate background. The Agility bonus is the best in the game, and the utility abilities are essential. At a minimum, every character should dip into Thief long enough to learn !Steal for maximum pilfering potential.

White Mage: The Gown-Clad Guardian Angel 🤍

Overview & Role: The White Mage is the quintessential healer and support class. Their role is simple but absolutely vital: keep the party alive. They wield the power of White Magic to restore HP, cure status ailments, and provide defensive buffs. No party should be without a dedicated healer, and the White Mage is the master of the craft.

Level	Ability	ABP Cost	Total ABP	Unlocked Spells
1	White Magic Lv. 1	10	10	Cure, Libra, Poisona
2	White Magic Lv. 2	20	30	Silence, Protect, Mini
3	White Magic Lv. 3	30	60	Cura, Raise, Confuse
4	White Magic Lv. 4	50	110	Blink, Shell, Esuna
5	White Magic Lv. 5	70	180	Curaga, Reflect, Berserk
6	White Magic Lv. 6	100	280	Arise, Holy, Dispel
7	MP +10%	300	580	Passively increases maximum MP by 10%.

Strategic Analysis & Synergies:
- ⚕️ The Healing Staff Loophole: One of the most effective early-game strategies involves the Healing Staff, found in Castle Tycoon. When used as an item in battle (by selecting !Item and using it on a target), it casts Cure. However, if you simply use the standard !Attack command with the Healing Staff equipped, it casts a more powerful version of Cure on the target for free. This allows your White Mage to handle most single-target healing without spending any MP, saving it for party-wide Cura or emergency Raise spells.
- 🤝 Synergy with High Magic Jobs: The potency of healing spells is determined by the caster’s Magic stat. Therefore, giving the !White command to a job with an even higher Magic stat, like a Summoner (+33 Magic), creates an exceptionally powerful healer. A Summoner with !White can deliver devastating offensive summons and potent party-wide heals, making them a premier magical powerhouse.
- 💥 Holy: The Offensive Option: Don’t underestimate the White Mage’s offensive potential. The level 6 spell Holy is one of the strongest single-target magic attacks in the game. Its power can be boosted by 50% by equipping the Sage Staff, making it a viable boss-killing spell in the late game.
Path to Mastery: ⭐ Essential for your primary healer. You’ll need access to all six levels of White Magic to handle the game’s toughest challenges. Mastering the job for the MP +10% bonus is a nice, but not critical, perk.

Black Mage: A Connoisseur of Combustibles 🖤🔥

Overview & Role: The Black Mage is the master of destructive elemental magic. Their job is to identify an enemy’s weakness and exploit it for massive damage. With access to the three core elements—Fire, Ice, and Lightning—as well as a host of debilitating status effects and powerful non-elemental spells, the Black Mage is the party’s primary magical artillery.

Level	Ability	ABP Cost	Total ABP	Unlocked Spells
1	Black Magic Lv. 1	10	10	Fire, Blizzard, Thunder
2	Black Magic Lv. 2	20	30	Poison, Sleep, Toad
3	Black Magic Lv. 3	30	60	Fira, Blizzara, Thundara
4	Black Magic Lv. 4	50	110	Drain, Break, Bio
5	Black Magic Lv. 5	70	180	Firaga, Blizzaga, Thundaga
6	Black Magic Lv. 6	100	280	Flare, Death, Osmose
7	MP +30%	450	730	Passively increases maximum MP by 30%.

Strategic Analysis & Synergies:
- 🪄 Elemental Rod Breaking: The Black Mage’s secret weapon isn’t a spell, but an item interaction. The elemental rods (Fire Rod, Ice Rod, Lightning Rod) can be used as items in battle to cast their respective -ara level spells for free. More importantly, if you break a rod (by equipping it and then using it from the item menu), it will cast the powerful -aga level spell, dealing immense damage. This is an incredibly effective, if costly, way to burst down early-game bosses.
- 🪞 The Reflect Trick: A classic and devastating tactic involves the Reflect status. Cast Reflect on your entire party (either with the White Magic spell or the Carbuncle summon). Then, have your Black Mage cast their most powerful single-target elemental spell (like Firaga) on your own party. The spell will bounce off each of your four reflected party members and hit the enemy four times, dealing quadruple damage. This is one of the highest single-turn magical damage outputs possible.
- 🆚 Black Mage vs. Summoner: The Black Mage faces stiff competition from the Summoner. While Black Magic spells are more powerful against single targets, Summon spells are inherently multi-target and often more efficient for clearing groups of enemies. However, the Black Mage retains an edge with the powerful non-elemental spell Flare and the utility of Osmose for MP recovery.
Path to Mastery: 👍 Recommended for your primary offensive caster. Access to Flare is crucial for late-game damage against enemies without elemental weaknesses. Mastering the job for the MP +30% bonus is a significant boost for any magic-heavy character.

Blue Mage: Stealing the Spotlight, and the Spells 🔵

Overview & Role: The Blue Mage is the most unique and potentially the most powerful magic user in the game. They don’t learn spells from shops; they learn them from monsters by getting hit with them. This makes them a high-effort, high-reward job. Their spell list is an eclectic mix of powerful attacks, unique status effects, and some of the best support abilities in the game, making them the ultimate magical wild card.

Level	Ability	ABP Cost	Total ABP	Description
1	!Check	10	10	Reveals an enemy’s current HP.
2	Learning	20	30	The innate ability that allows the Blue Mage to learn spells. Can be equipped on other jobs.
3	!Blue	70	100	Allows the use of learned Blue Magic spells.
4	!Scan	250	350	Reveals an enemy’s level, HP, weaknesses, and status effects.

Strategic Analysis & Synergies:
- 🤝 The Beastmaster Partnership: The Blue Mage’s best friend is the Beastmaster. Many of the most powerful Blue Magic spells are either buffs that enemies cast on themselves (like White Wind or Mighty Guard) or are simply rare. The Beastmaster’s !Control ability allows you to take control of an enemy and force them to cast the desired spell on your Blue Mage, making the learning process far more reliable.
- 🛠️ A Spell for Every Occasion: The sheer versatility of Blue Magic cannot be overstated.
  - Offense: Aqua Breath is a powerful multi-target water spell available early. 1000 Needles deals a fixed 1000 damage, which is immense in the first half of the game. The “Level” spells (Level 5 Death, Level 4 Graviga, etc.) can trivialize many encounters and even some bosses if their level is a multiple of the spell’s number.
  - Support: White Wind is a fantastic party heal that restores HP equal to the caster’s current HP. Mighty Guard is arguably the best defensive buff in the game, casting Protect, Shell, and Float on the entire party in a single turn for a modest MP cost.
- 🎓 Learning is Fundamental: The Learning ability is the key to the class. It’s highly recommended to have every character “dip” into Blue Mage to learn this ability. This allows you to switch to other jobs while still being able to learn Blue Magic, so you don’t have to keep a character locked into the Blue Mage job just for the chance of learning a new spell.
Path to Mastery: 📉 Not strictly necessary. The main goal is to learn the spells themselves. The final ability, !Scan, is a slightly better version of the White Mage’s Libra but comes at a high ABP cost. Focus on acquiring the key spells rather than mastering the job itself.

The Water Crystal Jobs 💧

Acquired at Waltz Tower, these jobs introduce more complex and specialized roles, moving beyond the basic archetypes and opening up new strategic avenues.

Red Mage: Jack of All Trades, Master of One ❤️

Overview & Role: The Red Mage is a hybrid class, dabbling in both White and Black magic, as well as being a competent physical fighter. They can use swords and some armor, making them more durable than other mages. Their versatility is their greatest strength in the early game, but they are limited to level 3 magic, causing them to fall off in the mid-game. However, their final, ultimate ability is one of the most sought-after in the entire game.

Level	Ability	ABP Cost	Total ABP	Description
1	Red Magic Lv. 1	20	20	Perform level 1 White or Black magic.
2	Red Magic Lv. 2	40	60	Perform level 2 or lower White or Black magic.
3	Red Magic Lv. 3	100	160	Perform level 3 or lower White or Black magic.
4	!Dualcast	999	1159	Cast two spells in a single turn.

Strategic Analysis & Synergies:
- 🥵 The Long Grind to Godhood: Let’s be clear: the entire purpose of the Red Mage job is to unlock !Dualcast. At 999 ABP, it is the most expensive single ability to learn in the game (barring Mime). It is a massive grind. However, the payoff is immense. !Dualcast allows a character to cast any two spells back-to-back in a single turn.
- 💥 The Power of Two: The strategic implications of !Dualcast are staggering. A healer can cast Curaga on the party and Arise on a fallen ally in the same turn. An attacker can cast Flare and Holy, or Bahamut and Meteor. The most unbelievable combination involves the Time Magic spell Quick, which grants the caster two consecutive actions. A character with !Dualcast and !Time can cast Quick, then use their first free turn to !Dualcast two powerful spells, and their second free turn to !Dualcast two more, effectively casting five spells before the enemy can even react.
- 🤔 Is It Worth It?: The debate rages on. Some argue that the immense ABP cost and the weakness of the Red Mage job itself make it an inefficient investment until the very late game when ABP is easy to farm. Others maintain that its power is so game-breaking that the grind is justified. The truth is that !Dualcast is not necessary to beat the game, but it is the key to unlocking the most powerful magical combinations possible.
Path to Mastery: ⏳ A very long-term project. The Red Mage itself is a decent hybrid for the first world but quickly becomes outclassed. The only reason to stick with it is for !Dualcast. The best approach is to level other, more useful jobs first and then return to the Red Mage in the late game when you have access to high-ABP farming spots.

Time Mage: The Master of Momentum ⏳

Overview & Role: The Time Mage is a support caster who manipulates the flow of battle. They don’t deal the most damage or heal the most HP, but their control over speed is unparalleled. With spells like Haste, Slow, and Stop, they dictate the number of turns both your party and the enemy receive, which is often the deciding factor in a difficult fight.

Level	Ability	ABP Cost	Total ABP	Unlocked Spells
1	Time Magic Lv. 1	10	10	Speed, Slow, Regen
2	Time Magic Lv. 2	20	30	Mute, Haste, Float
3	Time Magic Lv. 3	30	60	Demi, Stop, Teleport
4	Time Magic Lv. 4	50	110	Comet, Slowga, Return
5	Time Magic Lv. 5	70	180	Graviga, Hastega, Old
6	Time Magic Lv. 6	100	280	Meteor, Quick, Banish
7	Equip Rods	250	530	Allows any job to equip rods and staves.

Strategic Analysis & Synergies:
- 🏃‍♂️ Hastega and Slowga: The Tempo Kings: The bread and butter of the Time Mage are Hastega and Slowga. Casting Hastega on your party doubles their turn rate, while Slowga halves the enemy’s. Opening a boss fight with this one-two punch effectively gives your party four actions for every one the boss takes, a monumental strategic advantage.
- ☄️ Meteor and Quick: The Endgame Powerhouses: At level 6, the Time Mage gains two of the best spells in the game. Meteor is a powerful, non-elemental, multi-target attack that rivals the Bahamut summon for raw damage. Quick, as mentioned, grants two consecutive turns and is the engine for the most powerful magical combos when paired with !Dualcast.
- 🛠️ Utility and Cheese: The Time Mage’s spell list is full of useful utility. Float negates all earth-elemental damage, making certain bosses trivial. Return restarts the current battle from the beginning, which is invaluable when trying to steal a rare item or survive a surprise attack. Teleport allows you to instantly escape from dungeons.
Path to Mastery: 👍 Highly recommended for one of your mages. Access to all six levels of Time Magic is crucial for endgame strategies. Hastega alone is worth the price of admission. Mastering the job for Equip Rods is less important, as most mages can already equip them.

Summoner: Unleash the Beasts 🐲

Overview & Role: The Summoner calls upon powerful magical beasts, or Espers, to wreak havoc on the battlefield. They are primarily offensive mages, specializing in multi-target elemental damage. While their single-target damage might lag behind a Black Mage’s, their ability to consistently damage all enemies at once makes them the undisputed kings of crowd control.

Level	Ability	ABP Cost	Total ABP	Description
1	Summon Magic Lv. 1	15	15	Perform level 1 summon magic.
2	Summon Magic Lv. 2	30	45	Perform level 2 or lower summon magic.
3	Summon Magic Lv. 3	45	90	Perform level 3 or lower summon magic.
4	Summon Magic Lv. 4	60	150	Perform level 4 or lower summon magic.
5	Summon Magic Lv. 5	100	250	Perform level 5 or lower summon magic.
6	!Call	500	750	Randomly summons one of your learned Espers for 0 MP.

Strategic Analysis & Synergies:
- 🗺️ The Adventurous Acquisition: Unlike other mages, Summoners can’t just buy all their best spells. The most powerful summons—Shiva, Ifrit, Ramuh, Titan, Golem, Carbuncle, Odin, Leviathan, and Bahamut—must be found and defeated in optional side quests scattered across the world. This makes playing a Summoner an adventure in itself, rewarding exploration with tangible power.
- 💣 Multi-Target Masters: The key advantage of summons is that most of them hit all enemies for full damage. While a Black Mage’s Firaga will have its damage halved when targeting multiple enemies, Ifrit’s Hellfire will hit every enemy with the same force, making Summoners far more efficient at clearing random encounters.
- 🛡️ Defensive Powerhouses: Not all summons are for offense. Golem creates a physical damage shield for the entire party that absorbs a set amount of damage, effectively neutralizing physical attackers for several turns. Carbuncle casts Reflect on the entire party, making you immune to most magic. These two defensive summons are among the most powerful support abilities in the game.
Path to Mastery: ⭐ Essential. The Summoner boasts the highest base Magic stat bonus of any job in the original game, making it a mandatory mastery for any character you want to turn into an endgame magical Freelancer or Mime. The !Call ability is too random to be reliable, but the stat bonus alone makes the journey to mastery worthwhile.

Berserker: See Button, Press Button, Repeat 😡

Overview & Role: The Berserker is… unique. Upon entering battle, a Berserker goes into an uncontrollable rage, automatically attacking random enemies with boosted physical power. You have zero control over them. They are a fire-and-forget physical damage dealer, capable of wielding the powerful axes and hammers that other jobs can’t.

Level	Ability	ABP Cost	Total ABP	Description
1	Berserk	100	100	Gives the user the Berserk status, increasing attack but losing control.
2	Equip Axes	400	500	Allows any job to equip axes and hammers.

Strategic Analysis & Synergies:
- 🤖 The Auto-Battle Original: The Berserker is essentially a built-in auto-battle command. Their damage output is respectable, especially with a good axe, but the lack of control is a massive drawback. You can’t focus-fire on a dangerous enemy, you can’t heal, and you can’t use items. They are a blunt instrument in a game that rewards surgical precision.
- 🤷 A Niche Use Case: The main reason to level a Berserker is for the Equip Axes ability, which is necessary for certain specific builds, though these are rare. The job itself is generally considered one of the weakest in the game due to its crippling lack of versatility. Most players will find them more of a liability than an asset.
- 💡 The Berserk Spell: The Berserk spell (from White Magic) or the Chemist Mix can inflict the Berserk status on enemies. This can be a surprisingly effective strategy against certain bosses, as it forces them to stop using their dangerous special abilities and resort to simple physical attacks, which are often easier to manage.
Path to Mastery: 👎 Avoid. There is little strategic benefit to mastering the Berserker. The stat bonuses are decent but outclassed by the Monk, and the abilities are extremely niche. It’s a job best left for challenge runs or for players who truly enjoy chaos.

Mystic Knight: The Elemental Edge ✨⚔️

Overview & Role: The Mystic Knight, also known as the Sorcerer, is a hybrid fighter who imbues their blade with magic. Their signature !Spellblade ability allows them to enchant their sword with elemental properties or status effects, making them unparalleled boss killers. They can exploit elemental weaknesses for double damage or inflict devastating statuses like Silence, Sleep, or even instant Death with a single sword strike.

Level	Ability	ABP Cost	Total ABP	Description
1	Magic Shell	10	10	Automatically casts Shell when in critical health.
2	!Spellblade Lv. 1	20	30	Enchants weapon with Fire, Blizzard, or Thunder.
3	!Spellblade Lv. 2	30	60	Adds Poison, Silence, and Sleep enchantments.
4	!Spellblade Lv. 3	50	110	Adds Fira, Blizzara, and Thundara enchantments.
5	!Spellblade Lv. 4	70	180	Adds Drain, Break, and Bio enchantments.
6	!Spellblade Lv. 5	100	280	Adds Firaga, Blizzaga, and Thundaga enchantments.
7	!Spellblade Lv. 6	400	680	Adds Holy, Flare, and Osmose enchantments.

Strategic Analysis & Synergies:
- 🎯 The Boss Destroyer: The Mystic Knight’s primary function is to destroy bosses. Many bosses have an elemental weakness, and a Spellblade-enchanted sword will deal double damage with every hit. The Break spellblade can instantly petrify and kill enemies vulnerable to it, while Drain provides self-healing with every strike.
- 💥 THE ULTIMATE COMBO: Spellblade + Rapid Fire + Dual-Wield 💥This is it. The most famous and devastating physical damage combo in Final Fantasy V Pixel Remaster. A character with Dual-Wield (from Ninja) and !Rapid Fire (from Ranger) equipped with the !Spellblade command is an engine of pure destruction. The process:
  1. The character equips two swords.
  2. On their first turn, they use !Spellblade to enchant their weapons (e.g., with Thundaga).
  3. On their next turn, they use !Rapid Fire.
  4. The result is eight consecutive attacks (four from each hand), each ignoring the enemy’s defense, each hitting for half damage, and each carrying the Thundaga enchantment. Against an enemy weak to lightning, this combo will deal astronomical damage, often hitting the 9999 damage cap multiple times and ending boss fights in a single turn.
- 🛡️ Magic Shell: The Magic Shell ability is a surprisingly useful passive. It automatically provides a significant boost to magic defense when a character’s HP is low, which can often be the difference between survival and a game over.
Path to Mastery: ⭐ Absolutely essential. !Spellblade is a core component of the game’s most powerful offensive strategy. You will want at least one character to master this job to gain access to all six levels of enchantments, especially the powerful Thundaga for the Omega superboss and Flare for general-purpose destruction.

The Fire Crystal Jobs 🔥

Found in the chaotic aftermath of the Karnak incident, these jobs offer more specialized skill sets, from taming beasts to mastering the shadows.

Beastmaster: It’s a Zoo in Here 🦁

Overview & Role: The Beastmaster is a unique utility class that interacts with the animal and monster kingdom. They can pacify creatures with !Calm, take direct control of them with !Control, and even !Catch weakened monsters to !Release them later for a powerful one-shot attack. Their primary strategic purpose is to facilitate the learning of Blue Magic and to unleash specific, powerful monster abilities to exploit boss weaknesses.

Level	Ability	ABP Cost	Total ABP	Description
1	!Calm	10	10	Attempts to paralyze creature-type enemies.
2	!Control	50	60	Attempts to take control of an enemy, allowing you to use its abilities.
3	Equip Whips	100	160	Allows any job to equip whips.
4	!Catch / !Release	300	460	Capture a weakened monster / Unleash a captured monster for a special attack.

Strategic Analysis & Synergies:
- 🤝 The Blue Mage’s Best Friend: The !Control ability is indispensable for any serious Blue Magic collector. Many crucial spells like White Wind and Mighty Guard are used by enemies on themselves. !Control allows you to hijack the enemy and force it to cast these beneficial spells on your party, making them learnable. This synergy is so strong that a Beastmaster is practically a required partner for a Blue Mage.
- Poké-Fun: The !Catch and !Release system is a puzzle in itself. Each monster, when released, performs a specific, often powerful attack that is independent of the Beastmaster’s stats. This allows for some creative and potent strategies. For example, catching a Carcurser and releasing it on the Siren boss can petrify her instantly. Catching a Zuu and releasing it on Ifrit will use Breath Wing for massive damage. Discovering which monsters provide the best attacks is a rewarding part of mastering the job.
- ⛓️ Whips and Back Row Safety: Beastmasters are one of the few jobs that can use whips, which deal full damage from the back row and have a chance to paralyze enemies. This makes them surprisingly durable fighters despite their average defensive stats.
Path to Mastery: ⚠️ Not necessary, but highly useful to dip into. Learning !Control is a must for Blue Magic enthusiasts. The rest of the abilities are fun and can be powerful in niche situations, but are not required for a standard playthrough.

Geomancer: Letting the Earth Do the Work 🏞️

Overview & Role: The Geomancer is a nature-themed mage who uses the !Gaia command to channel the power of their surroundings into a free magical attack. The spell they cast is random and depends entirely on the terrain of the battlefield—caves produce earthquakes, forests produce branch arrows, and so on. They also come with invaluable passive abilities for dungeon exploration.

Level	Ability	ABP Cost	Total ABP	Description
1	!Gaia	25	25	Unleash a random terrain-based attack for 0 MP.
2	Find Pits	50	75	Reveals the location of hidden pitfall traps in dungeons.
3	Light Step	100	175	Prevents taking damage from damaging floor tiles like lava or spikes.

Strategic Analysis & Synergies:
- 🆓 Free Magic, With a Catch: The !Gaia ability is the Geomancer’s main appeal. It costs 0 MP and its damage scales with the caster’s Magic Power stat, making it a great ability to give to a high-magic job like a Black Mage or Summoner for free, efficient damage during random encounters. However, its randomness is a major drawback. You cannot choose your target, and the attack that comes out might be one the enemy absorbs or is immune to. It’s great for clearing trash mobs, but too unreliable for most boss fights.
- 🗺️ The Ultimate Dungeon Delver: The Geomancer’s true, lasting value comes from its passive abilities. Find Pits and Light Step (also known as AntiTrap) are essential quality-of-life skills that make navigating some of the game’s more treacherous dungeons far less annoying. Mastering the Geomancer so that your Freelancer inherits these abilities is a popular strategy for convenience in the late game.
- 💨 Low-Cost Mastery: The Geomancer is one of the fastest jobs to master, requiring only 175 total ABP. This makes it an easy and efficient job to level up for its passive benefits without a significant time investment.
Path to Mastery: 👍 Recommended. It’s a quick and easy job to master, and the inherited passive abilities are a fantastic convenience for the rest of the game. While !Gaia falls off in usefulness, the exploration skills are always welcome.

Ninja: Hits Twice, Only Dies Once 🥷

Overview & Role: The Ninja is the game’s premier physical damage dealer and speedster. Their role is to hit fast, hit often, and provide unique utility through !Throw and evasion with !Image. They are the foundation of the most infamous damage-dealing combo in the game and possess one of the most coveted abilities for any physical character.

Level	Ability	ABP Cost	Total ABP	Description
1	!Smoke	10	10	Instantly escape from any non-boss battle.
2	!Image	30	40	Create two illusory copies that will cause the user to evade the next two physical attacks.
3	First Strike	50	90	Doubles the chance of getting a pre-emptive strike in battle.
4	!Throw	150	240	Throw certain weapons or special ninja items (Scrolls, Shuriken) for high damage.
5	Dual-Wield	450	690	Allows the user to equip a weapon in each hand (cannot be used with two-handed weapons).

Strategic Analysis & Synergies:
- ✌️ Dual-Wield: The Obvious Power: Dual-Wield is the Ninja’s crown jewel. It is an innate ability that, once mastered, is passed on to the Freelancer and Mime. It allows a character to attack twice per turn, effectively doubling their physical damage output at the cost of being able to equip a shield. This single ability is the cornerstone of almost every endgame physical build.
- 💸 !Throw: The Hidden Overkill: The !Throw command has two distinct functions. Throwing weapons like the Shuriken or obsolete swords deals physical damage that scales with Strength and ignores the target’s defense. Throwing elemental Scrolls, however, deals magic damage that scales with the user’s Magic Power. While a Ninja’s low Magic stat makes scrolls seem weak, giving the !Throw ability to a Black Mage or Summoner turns them into devastating elemental cannons, capable of dealing massive, multi-target damage by throwing scrolls that benefit from their high Magic stat and any equipped elemental-boosting rods.
- ⚡ The Ninja Chassis – A Deeper Look: The Ninja’s greatest strength isn’t just Dual-Wield, but its status as a high-Agility “chassis” that makes other abilities better. With the highest Agility in the game and the First Strike passive, a Ninja will almost always act first in battle. This makes them the perfect platform for a crucial opening move. A Ninja with !Time can cast Hastega before the boss gets a turn. A Ninja with !Control can immediately neutralize a key threat. The Ninja’s true strategic value lies in using its innate speed to deploy a critical secondary ability at the start of combat, shaping the entire flow of the battle.
Path to Mastery: ⭐ Essential. Dual-Wield is a mandatory ability for any endgame physical Freelancer. Furthermore, the Agility bonus inherited from mastering the job is the highest in the game, making it a critical step for any player looking to optimize their characters’ stats.

The Earth Crystal Jobs & Beyond 🌍

These jobs, found in the final dungeons of the first world and beyond, represent the pinnacle of specialization, offering powerful and sometimes quirky abilities that define endgame strategies.

Samurai: Death by a Thousand Cuts (and a Lot of Money) 🌸

Overview & Role: The Samurai is a powerful and durable warrior, capable of equipping heavy armor and katanas, which have a naturally high critical hit rate. They possess a unique blend of offense and defense, with an innate evasion ability and two powerful, screen-clearing commands.

Level	Ability	ABP Cost	Total ABP	Description
1	!Mineuchi	10	10	A physical attack that has a chance to inflict Paralyze.
2	!Zeninage	30	40	Throws Gil at all enemies to deal significant, unavoidable damage.
3	Shirahadori	60	100	Grants a chance to completely evade a physical attack.
4	Equip Katanas	180	280	Allows any job to equip katanas.
5	!Iainuki	540	820	Attempts to instantly kill all enemies on screen.

Strategic Analysis & Synergies:
- 💰 !Zeninage: The Gil Toss: This is the Samurai’s most famous and reliable ability. It deals damage to all enemies based on your character’s level, ignoring defense. The damage formula is roughly (Level * 50) + a bit. The cost is (Your Level * 50 * Number of Targets) Gil. In the mid-to-late game, when you have a surplus of cash, !Zeninage is a guaranteed way to clear dangerous random encounters or deal a huge chunk of damage to a boss. It’s the ultimate panic button.
- ✋ Shirahadori: The Blade Catcher: This innate ability gives the Samurai a passive 25% chance to completely evade any physical attack. This stacks with shields and other evasion-boosting equipment, making the Samurai surprisingly tanky. Mastering the job to pass this onto a Freelancer is a great way to boost their survivability.
- 👻 !Iainuki vs.!Slash: !Iainuki is the Samurai’s final ability, an attempt to inflict instant death on all enemies. Its success rate is low, making it unreliable. It is often referred to as !Slash in some translations. While it can be satisfying when it works, it’s generally not worth the high ABP cost or the turn spent trying.
Path to Mastery: 👍 A good long-term goal. Shirahadori is a fantastic innate ability for a Freelancer. While you don’t need to rush it, mastering the Samurai is a solid investment for any physical character’s defensive capabilities.

Dragoon: The Floor is Lava (and I am in the Sky) 🐲⏫

Overview & Role: The Dragoon is an aerial spear-wielding knight. Their signature !Jump ability sends them soaring off-screen, making them invulnerable for a turn before they come crashing down on an enemy for double damage when using a spear. They are a highly survivable physical class, though their “on-again, off-again” presence in battle can sometimes be a liability for the rest of the party.

Level	Ability	ABP Cost	Total ABP	Description
1	!Jump	50	50	Leap off-screen, becoming invincible, then attack on a later turn. Damage is doubled with a spear.
2	!Lance	150	200	An attack that drains both HP and MP from the target.
3	Equip Lances	400	600	Allows any job to equip lances (spears).

Strategic Analysis & Synergies:
- 🚀 The Art of the Jump: !Jump is both an offensive and defensive maneuver. The double damage with spears is a significant boost, and the period of invulnerability can be timed to avoid devastating enemy attacks. If you know a boss is about to unleash a powerful party-wide spell, having your Dragoon jump can ensure their survival. However, this also means they are not on the ground to draw aggro or help heal, potentially putting more pressure on the remaining party members.
- 🐉 Dragon Lances and Shinryu: The Dragoon’s true moment to shine is in the superboss fight against Shinryu. The Dragon Lance, a weapon found in the final dungeon, deals bonus damage to dragon-type enemies. A Dragoon (or a Freelancer with !Jump and Dual-Wield) equipped with two Dragon Lances can use !Jump to deal astronomical damage to Shinryu, making it one of the most effective strategies for that fight.
- 💉 !Lance: A Niche Refill: The !Lance ability is a magical attack that drains HP and MP. It can be a useful way for physical characters to restore their own MP without relying on items or mages, but its damage is mediocre and it is generally outclassed by other abilities like the Chemist’s !Mix.
Path to Mastery: 📉 Not a priority. The Dragoon passes no innate abilities to the Freelancer, and its stat bonuses are unremarkable. Leveling the job long enough to learn !Jump for specific strategies (like the Shinryu fight) is all that’s typically required.

Dancer: The Gambler’s Gambit 💃🎲

Overview & Role: The Dancer is a strange and unpredictable hybrid class. Their !Dance ability triggers one of four random effects, ranging from a powerful 4x damage physical attack (Sword Dance) to draining HP or MP, or confusing the enemy. They are a high-risk, high-reward job that can either end fights in an instant with a lucky Sword Dance or waste turns with useless effects. They also have the unique ability to equip Ribbons.

Level	Ability	ABP Cost	Total ABP	Description
1	!Flirt	25	25	Attempts to stun an enemy for one turn.
2	!Dance	50	75	Performs one of four random dances.
3	Equip Ribbons	325	400	Allows any job to equip Ribbons and other Dancer-exclusive gear.

Strategic Analysis & Synergies:
- 🗡️ Living for the Sword Dance: The entire job revolves around the 25% chance to trigger Sword Dance, a physical attack that deals four times normal damage. This can lead to some of the highest single-hit damage numbers in the game, especially when combined with other damage-boosting abilities. Certain Dancer-exclusive equipment, like the Rainbow Dress, increases the chance of Sword Dance to 50% by replacing one of the other dances, making the job far more reliable.
- 🎀 The Ribbon Bearer: Along with the Freelancer, the Dancer is one of only two jobs that can equip the Ribbon, arguably the best piece of headgear in the game. The Ribbon provides excellent defense and protects against nearly every status ailment, making it an invaluable piece of equipment. The Equip Ribbons ability allows other jobs to share this benefit.
- 🤔 A Contradictory Design: The Dancer is a tricky job to use effectively because its abilities are at odds with each other. Sword Dance is a physical attack that scales with Strength and requires being in the front row. The other dances, Jitterbug Duet (drains HP) and Mystery Waltz (drains MP), are magical and scale with Magic Power, working best from the back row. This makes it difficult to optimize the Dancer’s stats and position.
Path to Mastery: ⚠️ A niche but fun choice. Mastering Dancer to give a Freelancer the ability to equip Ribbons is a valid strategy for a character who needs status protection but can’t spare an accessory slot. The job itself is too reliant on luck for most players, but can beincredibly powerful when fortune smiles upon it.

Chemist: Better Living Through Alchemy 🧑‍🔬🧪

Overview & Role: The Chemist is the ultimate support class, a master of items and concoctions. Their innate Pharmacology ability doubles the effectiveness of healing items. But their true power lies in the !Mix command, which allows them to combine two items from your inventory to create a vast array of powerful, often game-breaking, effects.

Level	Ability	ABP Cost	Total ABP	Description
1	Pharmacology	15	15	Doubles the healing effect of Potions and Ethers.
2	!Mix	30	45	Combine two items to create a new effect.
3	!Drink	45	90	Use special stat-boosting drinks.
4	!Recover	135	225	Cures a wide range of status ailments for 0 MP.
5	!Revive	405	630	Revives a fallen ally with a small amount of HP for 0 MP.

Strategic Analysis & Synergies:
- 💥 !Mix: The Most Broken Ability in the Game: The !Mix command is, without exaggeration, the most versatile and powerful ability in Final Fantasy V Pixel Remaster. Its effects are not based on stats, meaning any character can use it effectively. The possibilities are nearly endless (see the Appendix for a full chart), but some key combinations include:
  - Dragon Power (Potion + Dragon Fang): Increases a character’s level by 20 for the duration of the battle. This can be stacked for absurd stat boosts.
  - Goliath Tonic (Elixir + Dragon Fang): Doubles a character’s maximum HP.
  - Dragon Kiss (Dragon Fang + Maiden’s Kiss): Makes a target (including bosses) count as a Dragon-type, allowing weapons like the Dragon Lance to deal massive damage.
  - Resist spells (e.g., Phoenix Down + Antidote for Resist Ice): Makes a character absorb a specific element.
  - Kiss of Blessing (Holy Water + Maiden’s Kiss): Inflicts Berserk, Haste, and Blink on a target. This is famously bugged and can bypass boss immunity to Berserk, locking them into physical attacks and breaking their AI scripts.
- ♾️ Infinite Resources: The abilities !Recover and !Revive are essentially free versions of the Esuna and Raise spells, allowing a Chemist to handle status and revival duties without ever touching their MP pool.
Path to Mastery: 👍 Highly recommended. The !Mix ability is a toolkit that can solve almost any problem the game throws at you. While mastering the job isn’t strictly necessary, learning !Mix is a must for anyone who wants to explore the game’s deepest strategic options and trivialize its greatest challenges.

Mime: The Silent Superstar 🎭

Overview & Role: The Mime is a secret job found in the Sunken Walse Tower in the third world. It is the ultimate spellcaster’s endgame class. Like the Freelancer, it inherits stat bonuses and innate abilities from mastered jobs. Its key difference is the !Mimic command, which repeats the last action taken by any party member for free, and its three open ability slots.

Level	Ability	ABP Cost	Total ABP	Description
1	!Mimic	999	999	Repeats the last action performed by an ally, for 0 MP/item cost.

Strategic Analysis & Synergies:
- 🪄 The Triple-Threat Mage: The Mime’s three open ability slots (as opposed to the Freelancer’s two) make it the superior choice for a pure mage. A Mime can equip !Dualcast, !Summon, and !White all at the same time, giving them access to the game’s most powerful healing, support, and offensive spells in one package.
- 🔁 The Echo of Power: The !Mimic command is incredibly powerful. If one character casts Bahamut, the other three can !Mimic it for 0 MP, resulting in four Bahamut summons for the price of one. This works for expensive spells, rare items, and even !Zeninage. A common endgame strategy is to have one character use a powerful, expensive action, and have the other three Mimes repeat it for an overwhelming assault.
- 🤔 Mime vs. Freelancer: The choice between Mime and Freelancer for your endgame party is simple.
  - Physical attackers should be Freelancers, as they can equip any weapon or armor in the game.
  - Magical attackers should be Mimes, to take advantage of the third ability slot for maximum spellcasting versatility.
Path to Mastery: The Mime only has one “level.” Obtaining the job itself is the goal. It is the ultimate vessel for all the magical abilities you have spent the game mastering.

📚 Chapter 4: The Adventurer’s Almanac – Appendices of Power

Knowledge is power, and in Final Fantasy V Pixel Remaster, a well-organized list is the sharpest weapon of all. This chapter serves as your comprehensive reference library, containing detailed information on every spell, item, and secret the game has to offer.

🤍 The Complete Grimoire: White Magic 🤍

Tier	Spell	MP	Effect	Locations
1	Cure	4	Restores a small amount of HP.	Tule, Carwen, Karnak, Jachol
1	Libra	1	Reveals an enemy’s HP, MP, and weakness.	Tule, Karnak, Jachol
1	Poisona	2	Cures Poison status.	Tule, Carwen, Karnak, Jachol
2	Silence	2	Inflicts Silence, preventing magic use.	Carwen, Karnak, Jachol
2	Protect	3	Increases physical defense.	Carwen, Karnak, Jachol
2	Mini	5	Inflicts or cures Mini status.	Carwen, Karnak, Jachol
3	Cura	9	Restores a moderate amount of HP.	Karnak, Jachol
3	Raise	29	Revives a fallen ally with minimal HP.	Karnak, Jachol
3	Confuse	4	Inflicts Confuse status.	Karnak, Jachol
4	Blink	6	Creates images to evade 2 physical attacks.	Lugor, Bal, Kelb, Surgate, Moore
4	Shell	5	Increases magical defense.	Lugor, Bal, Kelb, Surgate, Moore
4	Esuna	10	Cures most negative status ailments.	Karnak (Chest), Rikks, Lugor, Bal, Surgate, Kelb
5	Curaga	27	Restores a large amount of HP.	Moore
5	Reflect	15	Bounces magic back at the caster.	Moore
5	Berserk	8	Inflicts Berserk status, increasing attack but losing control.	Moore
6	Arise	50	Revives a fallen ally with full HP.	Mirage
6	Dispel	12	Removes magical effects like Protect, Shell, Reflect.	Mirage
6	Holy	20	Deals powerful Holy-elemental damage.	Fork Tower

🖤 The Complete Grimoire: Black Magic 🖤

Tier	Spell	MP	Effect	Locations
1	Fire	4	Deals low-level Fire damage.	Tule, Carwen, Karnak, Crescent
1	Blizzard	4	Deals low-level Ice damage.	Tule, Carwen, Karnak, Crescent
1	Thunder	4	Deals low-level Lightning damage.	Tule, Carwen, Karnak, Crescent
2	Poison	2	Inflicts Poison status, causing gradual HP loss.	Karnak, Crescent
2	Sleep	3	Inflicts Sleep status.	Carwen, Karnak, Crescent
2	Toad	8	Inflicts or cures Toad status.	Karnak, Crescent
3	Fira	10	Deals mid-level Fire damage.	Karnak, Crescent
3	Blizzara	10	Deals mid-level Ice damage.	Karnak, Crescent
3	Thundara	10	Deals mid-level Lightning damage.	Karnak, Crescent
4	Drain	13	Drains HP from a target and gives it to the caster.	Lugor, Bal, Kelb, Surgate, Moore
4	Break	15	Attempts to inflict Petrify, instantly killing the target.	Lugor, Bal, Kelb, Surgate, Moore
4	Bio	16	Deals Poison-elemental damage and inflicts Poison.	Lugor, Bal, Kelb, Surgate, Moore
5	Firaga	25	Deals high-level Fire damage.	Moore
5	Blizzaga	25	Deals high-level Ice damage.	Moore
5	Thundaga	25	Deals high-level Lightning damage.	Moore
6	Flare	39	Deals supreme non-elemental damage to one target.	Fork Tower
6	Death	29	Attempts to instantly kill the target.	Mirage
6	Osmose	1	Drains MP from a target and gives it to the caster.	Mirage

⏳ The Complete Grimoire: Time Magic ⏳

Tier	Spell	MP	Effect	Locations
1	Speed	1	Slightly increases one ally’s speed.	Walse (Chest), Mirage
1	Slow	3	Inflicts Slow status on one target.	Walse, Karnak
1	Regen	3	Grants Regen status, gradually restoring HP.	Walse, Karnak
2	Mute	3	Inflicts Silence status on one target.	Walse, Karnak
2	Haste	5	Inflicts Haste status on one target, doubling their speed.	Walse, Karnak
2	Float	10	Grants Float status, making targets immune to Earth damage.	Walse, Karnak
3	Demi	9	Reduces one target’s current HP by 50%.	Lugor, Bal, Kelb, Surgate, Moore
3	Stop	8	Inflicts Stop status, freezing a target in time.	Lugor, Bal, Kelb, Surgate, Moore
3	Teleport	15	Instantly escape from a dungeon or battle.	Lugor, Bal, Kelb, Surgate, Moore
4	Comet	7	Deals random, non-elemental damage to one target.	Lugor, Bal, Kelb, Surgate, Moore
4	Slowga	9	Inflicts Slow status on all enemies.	Lugor, Bal, Kelb, Surgate, Moore
4	Return	1	Resets the current battle to its beginning.	Lugor, Bal, Kelb, Surgate, Moore
5	Graviga	18	Reduces one target’s current HP by 75%.	Moore
5	Hastega	15	Inflicts Haste status on the entire party.	Moore
5	Old	4	Inflicts Old status, gradually decreasing a target’s stats.	Moore
6	Meteor	42	Rains four meteors on random enemies for massive damage.	Mirage
6	Quick	77	Grants the caster two immediate, consecutive turns.	Mirage
6	Banish	20	Attempts to instantly remove a target from battle.	Mirage

🔵 The Blue Mage’s Stolen Secrets 🔵

Blue Magic must be learned from enemies. A character with the Learning ability must be hit by the spell and survive the battle to acquire it. Spells marked with (Control) require a Beastmaster to use the !Control command on the monster to force it to cast the spell on your party.

Spell Name	MP	Effect	Earliest Monster & Location
Goblin Punch	0	Physical attack that never misses if caster and target are the same level.	Black Goblin (Wind Shrine)
Aero	4	Deals wind-elemental damage.	Moldwynd (Wind Shrine)
Vampire	2	Drains HP from a target. Amount drained is based on caster’s missing HP.	Steel Bat (Pirates’ Hideout)
Flash	4	Inflicts Darkness on all enemies.	Headstone (North Mountain – must use Ether on it)
Pond’s Chorus	5	Inflicts Toad on a target.	Elf Toad (Walse Tower)
Moon Flute	3	Inflicts Berserk on the entire party.	Jackanapes (Walse Tower)
?????	3	Deals damage equal to caster’s Max HP – Current HP.	Wild Nakk (Forests near Karnak)
Self-Destruct	1	Caster sacrifices themselves to deal massive damage.	Motor Trap (Fire-Powered Ship)
Aera	10	Deals moderate wind-elemental damage.	Gigas (Karnak Castle)
Death Claw	21	Reduces target’s HP to single digits and inflicts Paralyze.	Iron Claw (Karnak Castle)
Aqua Breath	38	Deals powerful multi-target water damage.	Dhorme Chimera (Desert near Library of Ancients)
Transfusion	13	Caster sacrifices themselves to fully heal an ally’s HP and MP.	Mythril Dragon (Library of Ancients) (Control)
Missile	7	Reduces target’s HP to 1/4 of its current value.	Motor Trap (Fire-Powered Ship) (Control)
Level 5 Death	22	Instantly kills all enemies whose level is a multiple of 5.	Page 64 (Library of Ancients)
Off-Guard	19	Halves the target’s Defense.	Page 256 (Library of Ancients) (Control)
Magic Hammer	3	Halves the target’s MP.	Byblos (Library of Ancients)
Dark Spark	27	Halves the target’s level.	Black Flame (Islands near Crescent)
Flamethrower	5	Deals fire-elemental damage.	Prototype (Islands near Crescent)
White Wind	28	Heals the party for an amount equal to the caster’s current HP.	Enchanted Fan (Ronka Ruins) (Control)
1000 Needles	25	Deals exactly 1000 damage.	Lamia (Ronka Ruins) (Control)
Level 4 Graviga	21	Reduces HP of all targets whose level is a multiple of 4 by 75%.	Ghidra (Ronka Ruins)
Time Slip	9	Inflicts Old and Sleep on a target.	Traveler (Barrier Tower)
Level 3 Flare	18	Deals powerful damage to all targets whose level is a multiple of 3.	Red Dragon (Barrier Tower)
Level 2 Old	9	Inflicts Old on all targets whose level is a multiple of 2.	Level Tricker (Barrier Tower)
Aeroga	24	Deals powerful wind-elemental damage.	Metamorph (Ghido’s Cave)
Lilliputian Lyric	5	Inflicts Mini on all enemies.	Mini Magician (Great Forest of Moore)
Doom	10	Inflicts a 30-second death countdown on a target.	The Damned (Castle Exdeath) (Control)
Roulette	1	Randomly selects one target (friend or foe) and instantly kills it.	Parthenope (Phoenix Tower)
Mind Blast	20	Deals heavy damage and inflicts Paralyze and Sap.	Wendigo (Island Shrine)
Mighty Guard	72	Casts Protect, Shell, and Float on the entire party.	Stingray (Sea near Sunken Walse Tower) (Control)

🐲 The Summoner’s Pact 🐲

The most powerful summons must be earned by defeating them in battle. Here is where to find each one.

Summon	MP	Effect	Location & Acquisition
Chocobo	4	Deals non-elemental damage to one target.	Purchase in Walse for 300 gil.
Sylph	8	Deals damage and heals the party for a portion of the damage dealt.	Purchase in Walse for 350 gil.
Remora	2	Inflicts Paralyze on a target.	Purchase in Walse for 250 gil.
Ifrit	11	Deals Fire damage to all enemies.	Defeat him in the Library of the Ancients.
Shiva	10	Deals Ice damage to all enemies.	Defeat her in the basement of Castle Walse.
Ramuh	12	Deals Lightning damage to all enemies.	Defeat him in a random encounter in the forests near Istory.
Titan	25	Deals Earth damage to all enemies.	Defeat him in the Karnak Meteorite.
Golem	18	Creates a barrier that absorbs a set amount of physical damage for the party.	Save him from monsters in a random encounter in Drakenvale.
Catoblepas	33	Attempts to Petrify one enemy.	Defeat it in a random encounter on the northwestern island of Galuf’s World.
Carbuncle	45	Casts Reflect on the entire party.	Defeat him in Castle Exdeath.
Syldra	32	Deals Wind damage to all enemies.	Acquired automatically via a story event at the Pirates’ Hideout in the Merged World.
Odin	48	Attempts to instantly kill all enemies. If it fails, deals heavy physical damage to one.	Defeat him in the basement of Castle Bal (accessed via Jachol Cave).
Leviathan	39	Deals Water damage to all enemies.	Defeat him in Istory Falls.
Bahamut	66	Deals massive non-elemental damage to all enemies.	Defeat him at the peak of North Mountain in the Merged World.
Phoenix	99	Deals Fire damage to all enemies and revives all fallen allies to full health.	Reach the top of the Phoenix Tower.

🧑‍🔬 The Chemist’s Cookbook: The !Mix Chart 🧪

The !Mix command is a bottomless well of strategic potential. The chart below details the result of combining any two of the primary mixing ingredients. Experimentation is highly encouraged!

	Potion	Hi-Potion	Phoenix Down	Ether	Antidote	Eye Drops	Maiden’s Kiss	Holy Water	Elixir	Turtle Shell	Dragon Fang	Dark Matter
Potion	Potion	Lifewater	Resurrection	X-Potion	Neutralizer	Cure Blindness	Maiden’s Kiss	Potion	Elixir	Ether	Dragon Power	Devil’s Juice
Hi-Potion	Lifewater	Hi-Potion	Resurrection	Balm of Gilead	Neutralizer	Cure Blindness	Maiden’s Kiss	Hi-Potion	Elixir	Triple Ether	Dragon Power	Devil’s Juice
Phoenix Down	Resurrection	Resurrection	Phoenix Down	Reincarnation	Resist Ice	Resist Thunder	Kiss of Life	Lifeshield	Reincarnation	Remedy	Dragon Defense	Death Potion
Ether	X-Potion	Balm of Gilead	Reincarnation	Ether	Resist Poison	Resist Fire	Lilith’s Kiss	Ether	Elixir	X-Potion	Dragon Shielding	Dark Ether
Antidote	Neutralizer	Neutralizer	Resist Ice	Resist Poison	Antidote	Smelling Salts	Levisalve	Samson’s Might	Elixir	Turtle Soup	Poison Breath	Poison
Eye Drops	Cure Blindness	Cure Blindness	Resist Thunder	Resist Fire	Smelling Salts	Eye Drops	Lamia’s Kiss	Elemental Power	Elixir	Hasty-ade	Dark Sigh	Dark Gas
Maiden’s Kiss	Maiden’s Kiss	Maiden’s Kiss	Kiss of Life	Lilith’s Kiss	Levisalve	Lamia’s Kiss	Maiden’s Kiss	Blessed Kiss	Lilith’s Kiss	Succubus Kiss	Dragon Kiss	Toad Kiss
Holy Water	Potion	Hi-Potion	Lifeshield	Ether	Samson’s Might	Elemental Power	Blessed Kiss	Holy Water	Elixir	Bacchus’ Cider	Holy Breath	Dud Potion
Elixir	Elixir	Elixir	Reincarnation	Elixir	Elixir	Elixir	Lilith’s Kiss	Elixir	Elixir	Dud Potion	Goliath Tonic	Antilixir
Turtle Shell	Ether	Triple Ether	Remedy	X-Potion	Turtle Soup	Hasty-ade	Succubus Kiss	Bacchus’ Cider	Dud Potion	Protect Potion	Dud Potion	TNT
Dragon Fang	Dragon Power	Dragon Power	Dragon Defense	Dragon Shielding	Poison Breath	Dark Sigh	Dragon Kiss	Holy Breath	Goliath Tonic	Dud Potion	Dragon Breath	Dark Breath
Dark Matter	Devil’s Juice	Devil’s Juice	Death Potion	Dark Ether	Poison	Dark Gas	Toad Kiss	Dud Potion	Antilixir	TNT	Dark Breath	Shadowflare

🏆 The Legendary Armory 🏆

This section details the most powerful and unique pieces of equipment in the game, from the 12 Legendary Weapons to rare items stolen from the clutches of powerful foes.

The 12 Legendary Weapons 🌟

After collecting the four stone tablets from the Pyramid of Moore, Island Shrine, Great Sea Trench, and Istory Falls, you can return to the Sealed Castle of Kuza to unseal these powerful artifacts, three for each tablet.

Assassin’s Dagger: High attack power with a 25% chance to inflict instant Death.
Apollo’s Harp: Deals 8x damage to Dragon and Undead type enemies.
Excalibur: A powerful Holy-elemental sword that boosts Strength.
Fire Lash: A whip with a 33% chance to cast Firaga on hit.
Gaia Bell: Boosts Earth-elemental damage and has a 25% chance to cast Quake.
Holy Lance: A powerful Holy-elemental spear that boosts Strength.
Magus Rod: Boosts the power of all elemental magic except Water and Holy.
Masamune: A katana that grants the wielder the first turn in every battle and can be used as an item to cast Haste.
Rune Axe: Consumes a small amount of MP to guarantee a critical hit.
Sage Staff: A Holy-elemental staff that deals 8x damage to Undead and can be used as an item to cast Raise.
Sasuke’s Katana: A powerful katana that grants a 25% chance to evade a physical attack.
Yoichi’s Bow: A bow with a high critical hit rate that boosts Strength and Agility.

Unique Steals and Rare Drops 훔

Many of the game’s best items can’t be bought in stores. They must be taken. A Thief with the Thief’s Gloves is your best friend in acquiring this loot.

Item	Type	How to Obtain	Location
Javelin	Spear	Rare Steal from Sand Bear	Desert of Shifting Sands
Death Sickle	Axe	Rare Drop from Harvester	Overworld (Crescent area)
Genji Gloves	Accessory	Common Steal from Gilgamesh (3rd battle)	Xezat’s Fleet
Genji Helm	Helmet	Common Steal from Gilgamesh (4th battle)	Castle Exdeath
Genji Shield	Shield	Common Steal from Gilgamesh (5th battle)	Interdimensional Rift
Genji Armor	Armor	Common Steal from Gilgamesh (Necrophobe battle)	Interdimensional Rift
Dragon Lance	Spear	Rare Steal from Crystal Dragon	Interdimensional Rift
Dragon’s Whisker	Whip	Rare Drop from Stingray	Overworld Sea (south of Phoenix Tower)
Murasame	Katana	Rare Steal from Rukh	Overworld Sea (near Fork Tower)
Murakumo	Katana	Rare Steal from Yojimbo	Interdimensional Rift
Staff of Light	Staff	Rare Drop from Metamorph	Ghido’s Cave
Tinklebell	Bell	Rare Drop from Twintania	Interdimensional Rift

📈 Get Rich (and Strong) Quick Schemes 💰

Need more ABP for that shiny new ability? Running low on Gil for that expensive new armor? Here are the best places to grind for resources throughout your journey. With the Pixel Remaster’s boosters, these spots become even more ludicrously efficient.

World 1: Jachol Cave 🦇
- Target: Skull Eaters
- Reward: 5 ABP per kill.
- Strategy: Skull Eaters have only 1 HP but possess extremely high defense and evasion, making them hard to hit. The Geomancer’s !Gaia ability, a Blue Mage’s 1000 Needles, or a Ninja’s !Throw command with scrolls will hit them reliably for an easy kill.
World 2: Castle Bal Basement 🖼️
- Target: Objet d’Art (groups of 2 or 5)
- Reward: 4 ABP for a group of 2, 8 ABP for a group of 5. Decent Gil.
- Strategy: These enemies are all level 20, which is a multiple of 5. The Blue Magic spell Level 5 Death will instantly wipe them out. Set Level 5 Death on one character, turn on auto-battle, and you can master jobs in minutes. If you missed Level 5 Death, multi-target Thundara or Ramuh also works well. The nearby inn costs only 50 Gil, making MP recovery trivial.
World 2: Gil Cave 🐢
- Target: Gil Turtle
- Reward: 10,000 Gil per kill (and access to chests with large sums of money).
- Strategy: The Gil Turtle is a tough optional boss weak to Ice. It counters every attack with two powerful physical strikes. The key is evasion. Use the Ninja’s !Image ability, the White Magic spell Blink, and the Golem summon to nullify its physical attacks. Then, unleash your strongest Ice attacks, like Blizzaga Spellblade or the Shiva summon. Make sure your party has Float cast before you land the final blow, as it uses a powerful Earthquake as a final attack.
World 3: Interdimensional Rift 🌀
- Target: Movers
- Reward: A staggering 199 ABP and 150,000 Gil per battle.
- Strategy: Movers appear in groups of three in the final area of the game. They are weak to Fire and will flee if not defeated quickly. The most efficient strategy is to have a character with !Dualcast use Firaga twice, or have multiple characters use multi-target Firaga to wipe them out in a single round. With the 4x ABP booster on, this single battle can nearly master a job from scratch.

💥 Chapter 5: The True End of the Journey – Punching Gods

You’ve mastered the jobs, collected the legendary weapons, and saved the world from a very angry piece of lumber. But your journey is not yet complete. Hidden within the fabric of reality are two optional superbosses, Omega and Shinryu, created by the developers as the ultimate test of your strategic mastery. This chapter will guide you through defeating them and constructing the ultimate party builds that represent the pinnacle of the Job System.

Facing the Superbosses: Omega & Shinryu 🤖🐉

These two titans are puzzle bosses, designed to be unbeatable through brute force alone. They demand a deep understanding of the game’s mechanics and the right combination of abilities to even stand a chance.

Omega: The Lightning-Weak Engine of Destruction 🤖

Location: Omega can be found wandering in the Interdimensional Rift, in the area just before the final save point.
Stats: HP: 55,530. Weakness: ⚡ Lightning. Immense Physical and Magical Defense.
Attack Pattern Analysis: Omega’s AI script is relentless. It cycles through a devastating array of attacks, including Atomic Ray (Fire), Blaster (Paralyze/Death), Rainbow Wind (Confuse), and Maelstrom (reduces party HP to single digits). Its signature move is Wave Cannon, which deals damage equal to 50% of each character’s max HP and inflicts Sap. Most dangerously, Omega will counter any form of damage with a barrage of attacks like Rocket Punch or Encircle, which can remove a character from battle entirely.
Strategy: The Thundaga Spellblade Blitz ⚡⚔️There is one primary, widely accepted strategy for defeating Omega, and it is a testament to the power of job synergy.
1. The Build: You will need at least one character, ideally a Freelancer, who has mastered the Ninja (for Dual-Wield), Ranger (for !Rapid Fire), and Mystic Knight (for !Spellblade).
2. The Setup: Equip this character with two of your strongest swords (that can be enchanted, like the Brave Blade or Ragnarok). Equip Hermes Sandals on all party members to ensure you act quickly.
3. The Execution: On the character’s first turn, use !Spellblade and select Thundaga. On their second turn, select !Rapid Fire and target Omega.
4. The “Why”: This combination is the key to bypassing Omega’s defenses. !Rapid Fire ignores physical defense and evasion. !Spellblade adds elemental damage that exploits Omega’s only weakness. The combination of Dual-Wield and !Rapid Fire results in eight consecutive hits. Each of these eight hits will carry the Thundaga enchantment, dealing massive damage. With sufficient levels and good swords, this combo can deal over 60,000 damage in a single turn, destroying Omega before it has a chance to retaliate with its deadly counters.
Alternative/Support Strategy: While the Spellblade strategy is the most effective, you can support it by having other characters (like a Bard) attempt to stall Omega. The Bard’s Romeo's Ballad has a chance to inflict Stop, temporarily freezing Omega and giving your damage dealer time to set up.

Shinryu: The Dragon in the Box 🐉

Location: Shinryu lies in wait inside the final treasure chest of the Interdimensional Rift, guarding the legendary Ragnarok sword. Opening this chest immediately triggers the battle.
Stats: HP: 55,500. Type: Dragon.
Attack Pattern Analysis: Shinryu’s opening move is always Tidal Wave 🌊, a massive water-elemental attack that will instantly wipe out an unprepared party. If you survive, it follows up with a host of deadly attacks, including Ice Storm (heavy Ice damage), Atomic Ray (Fire), Maelstrom, and powerful physical strikes.
Strategy 1: The Berserker Method 😡This strategy focuses on surviving the initial onslaught and then neutering Shinryu’s abilities.
1. The Setup: Equip at least two characters with Coral Rings, which absorb water damage, to survive Tidal Wave. Equip anyone who can use them with Ice Shields to nullify Ice Storm. Have a method to inflict Berserk, either via the White Magic spell, a Chemist’s Mix (Holy Water + Turtle Shell), or by breaking a Power Staff.
2. The Execution: Survive Tidal Wave with your Coral Ring-equipped characters. Immediately revive any fallen party members. On your next available turn, inflict Berserk on Shinryu.
3. The “Why”: A berserked Shinryu can no longer use any of its special abilities. It will be limited to only its powerful physical attack. While still dangerous, a single-target physical attack is far more manageable than Tidal Wave or Ice Storm. You can mitigate this damage with the Golem summon, !Guard, Blink, or high evasion, then slowly chip away at its health.
Strategy 2: The Dragoon Method ⏫This strategy focuses on overwhelming offense using the Dragoon’s unique skills.
1. The Setup: Before the fight, steal at least two Dragon Lances from the Crystal Dragons found in the same area of the Rift. Equip these on a character with Dual-Wield and the !Jump command.
2. The Execution: Open the chest and immediately have your Dragoon-hybrid character !Jump.
3. The “Why”: The Dragon Lance deals bonus damage to dragon-type enemies. !Jump doubles the damage of spears and makes the character invulnerable while in the air, allowing them to completely avoid the opening Tidal Wave. When the character lands, they will deliver two devastating blows, each potentially hitting for 9999 damage. A party of three or four characters using this strategy can defeat Shinryu before it even gets a second turn.

🌟 The Final Freelancers: Building the Ultimate Party 🌟

After conquering the game’s greatest challenges, you can assemble the ultimate party, a team that represents the perfect synthesis of the Job System’s potential. These builds utilize the inheritance properties of the Freelancer and Mime jobs to create characters of unparalleled power and versatility.

The Physical God (Freelancer) 💪

This build creates the ultimate physical damage dealer, combining the best stats and abilities from the warrior classes into one unstoppable force.

Character: Bartz or Faris
Mastered Jobs (Minimum):
- Monk: For the highest Strength and Stamina stat bonuses.
- Thief: For the highest Agility stat bonus.
- Ninja: For the innate Dual-Wield ability.
- Ranger: To learn !Rapid Fire.
- Mystic Knight: To learn !Spellblade.
Equipped Abilities: !Rapid Fire and !Spellblade.
The “Why”: This build is the logical conclusion of the game’s physical combat system. The Freelancer inherits the Monk’s Strength, the Thief’s Agility, and the Ninja’s Dual-Wield. By equipping !Rapid Fire and !Spellblade, this character can execute the infamous 8-hit elemental combo at will, dealing maximum damage while benefiting from the highest possible physical stats. They can equip any weapon or armor, allowing them to adapt to any situation. This is the character that destroys Omega in a single turn.

The Ultimate Sage (Mime) 🔮

This build creates the ultimate magic user, a versatile sage who can wield multiple schools of magic with devastating efficiency.

Character: Lenna or Krile
Mastered Jobs (Minimum):
- Red Mage: To learn !Dualcast.
- Summoner: For the highest Magic stat bonus.
- White Mage: To learn all White Magic spells.
- Time Mage: To learn all Time Magic spells.
Equipped Abilities: !Dualcast, !Summon, and !White (or !Time).
The “Why”: The Mime’s three ability slots are the key. This allows a character to equip !Dualcast alongside two full magic command sets. This Mime can cast Bahamut and Curaga in the same turn, or Hastega and Holy. They inherit the Summoner’s massive Magic stat, making all their spells incredibly potent. Furthermore, the !Mimic command allows other party members to repeat this dual-cast for free. One Mime casts Quick and Meteor, and the other three Mimes can repeat Quick and Meteor for zero MP, creating a chain reaction of magical destruction that can obliterate any encounter in the game. This build represents the absolute mastery of the game’s magical systems.

With these builds, your party becomes a perfectly balanced team of specialists, each a master of their domain, ready to face any challenge the Void can throw at you. Your journey is complete. You have not just played Final Fantasy V Pixel Remaster; you have solved it. 🎉🥳

Disclaimer: This is an unofficial fan work, all trademarks and copyrights for Final Fantasy Pixel Remaster belong to the developer Square Enix

& publisher Square Enix.

Find the game here! FINAL FANTASY PIXEL REMASTER