And as such, you’ll spend more time in control of him then you will anybody else.
So thank Occuria that he’s the most well-rounded of the bunch.
His base stats give the best of strength and vitality, as well as a respectable amount of everything else. Vaan could comfortably fit into any role. But his stats lean him more towards a certain subset of jobs that would benefit more from what he naturally brings to the table.
Let’s take a look at which jobs are best for our friend Vaan in terms of preparing for the battle and mayhem that await him.
3. Monk + Black Mage
In FF12, there are two different ways to approach finding a custom-tailored job combo for a specific character: Emphasize what they’re good at, or power up their shortcomings. Vaan excels in strength and defense, but is a few places behind when it comes to magic. By adding Black Mage in here, you can shore up his magical powers. And by attaching that to Monk, you get the best of both the physical and mystical worlds. Understandably, Black Mages use a lot of black magic. Their license boards also come with lots of magic boosts to make those black spells as powerful as they can be. This pushes Vaan’s natural middle-of-the-road magic aptitude to a respectable top-shelf quality. Add in his speed and he’s pretty capable of slinging spells with the best of them. Monks use poles as their primary whacking tool. And in FF12, poles have a good combo rate (15%, which is substantially higher than most weapons). And with Vaan’s strength, one could turn these multiple bops into a very good stream of damage numbers. Also, with Black Mage as back-up, Vaan can equip the Staff of the Magi – which boosts holy damage. And wouldn’t you know it, Monk can cast Holy!
2. Knight + Monk
Whereas adding a Black Mage added to Vaan’s lacking stats, the Knight further enhances what he already excels at. You could easily cap Vaan’s strength and vitality at higher levels with Knight. His hit points will also skyrocket, and with the great defense provided by the heavy armors and shields afforded to him by the knight license board, he’ll be tough to take down. Knight comes with a few white magic spells too. Which is perfect, because so does Monk! In fact, the two jobs together have access to a majority of the white magic spell list. Sure, they won’t be as potent as if they were used by a pure caster. But Vaan’s natural magical ability ensures that they at least can be used decently, and help supplement the main healer (and probably even save a life or two in tough situations). The Knight/Monk (Knonk) job combo can also easily become a great tank. The amount of hit points, defense, and self-sufficiency these two jobs have when put together is more than enough to become the party’s designated meat shield.
1. Shikari + Bushi
Utilizing Vaan to his fullest means understanding what he’s good at, and putting him into a role that really emphasizes those strengths. What is Vaan good at? Hitting hard and being quick about it. Together, the Shikari and Bushi jobs can create a combo that can do both of those things – and in turn, make Vaan even better. The Shikari can use Ninja Swords, which is a class of weapon that, much like poles, have a much higher rate of combo attacks. The katana weapons that Bushis can equip also have a higher hit rate. Together, the two jobs cover the field of multi-hit weapons pretty well. And for the kupo nut on top of this dessert, Bushis can wear Dark Robes, which complement the Shikari’s Yagyu Darkblade weapon by a frightening amount. In fact, the Yagyu-Dark Robe mix creates a multi-hit nightmare of high-impact dark damage. Don’t even worry if the enemy absorbs dark either. Because, as previously discussed, there are plenty of other ninja swords to choose from that are element neutral. In short, a Shikari/Bushi Vaan can easily be one of the best damage dealers in your party. His defenses might not be as wonderful as other job combos. But if the enemy is dead, it can’t hurt you, right?
