After the original six classes of Final Fantasy would give players plenty of options for replayability and strategy within their party builds, Final Fantasy II would introduce the capacity for players to form their characters however they like. While the freedom of the character progression systems in Final Fantasy II is admirable for its time, it would end up being too obtuse and confusing even for RPG veterans, leading to a desire to go “back to the drawing board” with the series’ next entry. Final Fantasy III‘s introduction of the Job System is both one of the most important innovations within the genre and the saving grace of the game itself, giving players just enough gameplay depth and variety to keep coming back time and again in search of Final Fantasy III‘s best jobs.
As it turns out, though, the listing of “Best Jobs” in Final Fantasy III is slightly subjective and dependent entirely on a person’s play style and preferences. While one RPG fan might desire to min/max their characters as much as possible in hopes of creating absolutely broken builds that trivialize encounters, others might opt for a more traditional approach that sees them tackling the game’s challenges as they were arguably meant to be met. Whatever the case, Final Fantasy III‘s plethora of jobs arrive at such a steady cadence as to make the game continually engaging and exciting when it comes to crafting your ideal party of heroes. In terms of their versatility and raw power, these are the best jobs in Final Fantasy III.
10. Dark Knight/Dragoon
The original trilogy of Final Fantasy games are great at dropping subtle hints that guide players toward the correct conclusions in terms of what to do, where to go, and how to go about doing it. The jobs in Final Fantasy III are part of this methodology, with players coming into possession of the right jobs for the occasion just before they become practically essential. No two jobs illustrate this concept better than the Dark Knight and Dragoon jobs, both of which are must-haves for two very specific sections of the game.
Both the Dark Knight and Dragoon jobs become available after restoring light to the Water Crystal, and both are reasonably decent jobs that receive a substantial upgrade in their importance thanks to being very necessary in two very specific scenarios. First, the Dragoon job is essential for all characters when fighting Garuda, as the Dragoon’s Jump attack is the only reasonable means players have of defeating this story boss. Similarly, the Dark Knight is an essential job for all characters within two dungeons (Falagbard Caverns and Ancient Ruins) as their attacks prevent endless encounters by eliminating all foes on screen before they can regenerate.
9. White Mage/Black Mage
While the Red Mage has the benefit of using both White and Black Magic and is capable of successfully wielding more powerful melee weapons, it ends up being a “jack of all trades, master of none” thanks to this versatility. Instead, the Black and White Mages are each far superior choices thanks to their ability to wield the most powerful spells in the game and having substantially higher MP pools to work with. As these jobs level up, the bonuses that they gain to their magic class-specific stats make choosing a dedicated White or Black Mage the best option for having a magic-user in the party, until the more powerful Sage becomes available.
What these classes lack in melee strength they make up by being the resident offensive and restorative magic users, oftentimes negating the need to stock up on restorative items when a properly-leveled White Mage is in the party. Similarly, the Black Mage is capable of dishing out some of the highest damage in Final Fantasy III with its offensive spells like Flare. Both the White and Black Mages have secondary upgrades (Devout and Magus, respectively) before players should assign any magic-user in the party the Sage job.
8. Monk
In terms of raw physical power, no other beginning job even comes close to the Monk. As one of the first jobs players have at the start of Final Fantasy III, having at least one Monk in the party is a great way to trivialize the earlier sections of the game, even with their tendency to have lower defense at the cost of their incredible offensive output. The Monk is also a cheap class to maintain, as the power of the job centers around their ability to perform better without equipping any gear. Of course, not equipping them with any gear also makes them far more vulnerable to damage than the heavy armor-wearing Warrior, but they surpass Warriors in terms of damage output.
The Monk class is an ideal job choice for at least one party member throughout much of Final Fantasy III until the Black Belt job becomes available, at which point it replaces the Monk ouright. Though the class doesn’t have a specific ability, the level up bonus it gains from attacking without a weapon makes them solid damage-dealers throughout most of the game.
7. Warrior
The Warrior is the standard class archetype that most players will assign to at least one character, and they’re a great job for players looking to have solid offensive output along with good defense. Their ability to equip heavy weapons and armor allows them to be a little more sturdy than the Monk, but it is worth noting that their damage output lags behind just slightly. Still, the Warrior-to-Knight pipeline is a natural transition for at least one of the party members in Final Fantasy III, and their signature ability transforms them into one of the game’s best “Tank”-type characters until the Viking becomes available later on.
6. Thief
The Thief is an interesting job in that players unlock it pretty early on after restoring the Fire Crystal but it doesn’t become all that viable until you’re able to equip it with some powerful and high-level gear. After arriving in the town of Amur, some of the Thief’s best equipment becomes available via the Black Cowl, Black Garb, and Main Gauche. Equipping a Thief with this gear and sending them into battle practically transforms the class, boosting their agility so high that they’re able to evade most hits and attack several times in a single turn. Thieves also have the ability to access areas that would otherwise be off limits to the party, such as being able to unlock doors and loot the contents of the rooms they guard.
5. Onion Knight
You’d be forgiven for thinking that the Onion Knight doesn’t have much use aside from being the starting job in Final Fantasy III, but this unassuming class holds one of the game’s most powerful secrets. Characters gain both job and character levels in Final Fantasy III, and the jobs that players equip them with determine their overall stat growth when gaining the standard character levels. While the Onion Knight is essentially a “catch-all” in terms of jobs and being able to equip nearly any piece of equipment, the job’s true purpose doesn’t reveal itself until players reach an extremely high level with their characters.
After a character reaches level 92, equipping the Onion Knight job and continuing to level them up sees a whopping 12 points added to each stat upon level-up. Essentially, between level 93 and 99, players can earn an incredible 84 points in every stat on top of what they already have by equipping the Onion Knight job. Further, the class-specific Onion equipment players will find in the game’s final dungeon is some of the most powerful gear in all of Final Fantasy III and exclusive to the Onion Knight.
4. Viking
The Warrior class is the standard sword-wielding adventurer that eventually will give way to the Knight job once it becomes available. But what comes next? The answer is the Viking. Players will unlock the Viking job along with the Dark Knight and Dragoon jobs after restoring the Water Crystal, and it quickly becomes the best “Tank”-type job available in Final Fantasy III. The benefit to the Viking job is that assigning it allows characters to equip the heaviest armor in the game, have some of the best bonuses to defense at level up, and wield powerful axes and hammers to deal substantial damage. The Viking also retains the Warrior’s Defend job ability, which allows these tanky defenders the ability to soak up damage from characters that are otherwise more vulnerable (such as mages).
3. Black Belt
The Black Belt ranks as high as it does simply due to being the best damage-dealing class in all of Final Fantasy III. Though they’re essentially “glass cannons” — incredible offensive output but lacking in defense and fragile — the Boost/Focus ability positions the Black Belt as arguably the most powerful job of all. Boost allows the Black Belt to forego attacking in favor of storing power for a future hit, and Boosting multiple turns will stack the effect along with a multiplyer for each job and character level. In other words, a high-level Black Belt can Boost twice to potentially deal up to 99,999 damage in a single turn, which is the true damage cap for Final Fantasy III. Even with unlocking the Ninja at the end of the game, the Black Belt is the best physical class in terms of pure melee damage.
2. Ninja
Similar to the Dark Knight and Dragoon jobs, the Ninja is a job that Final Fantasy III unlocks for the player at just the right time for it to come in incredibly handy during the final boss battle against the Cloud of Darkness. One of the two final jobs players unlock after visiting the forbidden realm of Eureka, the Ninja is an incredibly powerful physical job that grants characters the ability to throw, including being able to toss the devastating Shuriken items.
Using the Throw command, the Ninja is one of the only class that is capable of reaching the same kind of damage output of the Black Belt, and the Cloud of Darkness’ weakness to Shurikens makes them practically a necessity in the game’s final showdown. It’s a shame that the Ninja doesn’t unlock earlier, but it definitely makes traversing the final floors of Final Fantasy III‘s ultimate dungeon that much easier.
1. Sage
In addition to the Ninja, the Sage is one of the final jobs players unlock in Final Fantasy III and is far and away the most powerful magic-using class in the game. Rather than focus on one particular school of magic, the Sage is capable of using all magic in the game — White Magic, Black Magic, and Summon Magic. This alone makes it one of the most powerful and useful classes in the game, but that’s not the only trick up this job’s sleeve.
The Sage grants a phenomenal bonus to both spirit and intellect stats, meaning players can grind through the upper floors of Final Fantasy III‘s last dungeon and increase the potency of using all three schools of magic. The Sage basically renders all prior magic-using classes obsolete, and in doing so it becomes the best job in the game and a must-have for the final encounter with the Cloud of Darkness.