The Final Fantasy franchise has been no stranger to intense tales set in faraway lands, and Final Fantasy Brave Exvius sends players to the mystical lands of Lapis to protect its great crystals. And while the mobile game has its gacha undertones due to its cast of collectible heroes, Final Fantasy Brave Exvius has an immense layer of strategy embedded to it.
For instance, its nature as a tactical role playing game demands a lot of combat prowess on the part of players, meaning troop management is just as important as collecting them via gacha. However, for fans curious about building their ideal Brave Exvius team with all the units they’ve collected, just how should they approach the tactical aspect of the game?
Team Building: The General Pattern
Unlike other games with parties, there’s not a specific way to set up a “pattern” for the best team in Brave Exvius. However, it’s important to take into consideration certain elements of an “ideal” team in order to mix and match what works best for a particular goal in mind. Here are the most important components of an effective Brave Exvius team:
- Healer/Buffer: A dedicated unit for healing and buffing is essential in most setups, and usually assigned to the White Mage. This is especially since it’s their healing that ensures survivability while buffs guarantee that other units can perform outside their base stats. One dedicated Healer or Buffer could greatly benefit a team.
- Tanks: One of the most essential units in any composition would be the Tank, and it’s recommended to have at least two Tanks in any team. It’s ideal for one Tank to be geared towards either negating physical or magic damage, and another to focus on either a single target’s attack or tanking AOEs.
- Attackers, Dedicated Supports: Perhaps the most essential components of any team are their Attackers or damage dealers, courtesy of their high-damage attacks. However, players shouldn’t forget adding dedicated Supports specifically made to boost the Attacker’s stats and their overall survivability.
- Same-Element Magic Wielders: There are different kinds of magic attacks out there, but those with the same element can cause Elemental Chains and deal massive damage compared to typical attacks. It helps to have multiple Magic Wielders that can use the same element types to maximize these effects.
- Poison, Bio Blade, Bio Blaster: Players who want to excel in the Coliseum could greatly use units with Poison, and especially Bio Blade and Bio Blaster. The damage-over-time they provide can be instrumental in defeating pesky foes. For beginners, a Poison unit could greatly help with the likes of Ifrit 2 and White Dragon.
Study The Roles Carefully
The most essential aspect of building a team in Brave Exvius isn’t necessarily just about collecting one of each unit type. Rather, it helps to understand exactly how each role works in order to capitalize on their potential synergies with the rest of the team. Here are the most basic roles in the game, as well as their general descriptions and potential subtypes:
Healers: Get Healing
Perhaps the most straightforward role in the game, Healers are dedicated support units that specialize in healing the party and ensuring their overall survival in the game. Aside from healing, however, Healers also specialize in removing various Status Ailments and Debuffs in order to have the team work at maximum capacity.
- General Healers: Most Healers are General Healers, wherein their primary role is to heal damage to allies. Healers may have offensive options that allow them to dish some damage in combat. Units like Luka, Rem, and Tilith are extremely ideal options for healing, as well as additional support from the likes of Carbunkle and Lakshmi. Fina’s story version is an early Healer to unlock!
- Refreshers: Also classified under Supports, Refreshers cater to primarily refreshing the team’s MP, especially since a lot of good Skills require a ton of MP to manage. Effective Refreshers include Charlotte, Enhanced Ace, Enhanced Rosa, and Zargabath.
Tank: Soak In The Damage, Aggro
As with other party-based games, Tanks are dedicated to absorb aggro and soak in damage from other opponents. Thanks to their durability, they’re more than able to fend for themselves and distract foes while the rest of the party maximizes their damage output without worry of counter-attacks. While Rain is the story-unlocked Tank, there are particular Tank subsets players need to know about:
- Draw Tank: Also called the Provoke Tank, the Draw Tank generally has passives that give them naturally-high targeting, as well as the use of the “Provoke” Skill or similar Skills that force enemies to target them. In fact, some Draw Tanks reduce damage or outright have high dodge while under the “Provoke” Skill. The drawback here is that Draw Tanks almost always affect single-target units. Popular units include Vertias of the Earth, Warrior of Light, White Knight Noel, and Wilhem are good Draw Tanks.
- Cover Tanks: Contrary to Draw Tanks, Cover Tanks specialize in drawing in damage from a physical area attack. Similar to Draw Tanks, Cover Tanks have various methods of attracting aggro and absorbing damage, and especially ways to boost their durability in the process. Charlotte and Barusa are ideal Cover Tank options.
- Magic Cover Tanks: Similar to Cover Tanks, Magic Cover Tanks specialize in soaking in damage from magic area attacks instead. Again, they have their own methods of attracting magical damage, as well as other cover and support Skills for the rest of the team. Ideal Magic Cover Tanks include Mystea, Basch, and Chow.
Damage: Take In The Power, Offense
Perhaps the most integral component in any party would be the Damage Units. Specifically dedicated to dish out damage to opponents, Damage Units are the primary offensive units in the game and are the ones players rely on to finish off both mobs and bosses. Here are some specific subsets under Damage Units that players need to check out:
- Multi-Hit: As their name suggests, Multi-Hit Damagers are those that reply on skills and spells to hit a lot of targets at once with these AOE. If players time these correctly, their attacks can connect and boost their damage. Effective Physical Multi-Hits include Agrais, Amelia, Orlandeau, and Tidus. Meanwhile, Magic Multi-Hits include Barbaricca, Shantotto, Trance Terra, and William.
- Single-Hit: Contrary to Multi-Hits, Single-Hit Damagers rely on skills that have huge damage multipliers to dish out loads of damage. When geared properly, these units can have a single attack to deal millions when done properly. These units include Ashe, Rem, and Victoria.
- Spellblades: Considered as a special damage type, Spellblades deal a mixture of both physical and magic damage. While most of their attacks have magic damage, their “Dual Wield” Skill does make them cast spells twice. Efficient Spellblades include Darce, Fryevia, Kunshira, and Silva.
- Summoners: While there’s not a lot of “dedicated” Summoners, units that specialize in summoning Espers to deal a lot of damage may fall under this unit type. These include Garnet, Rydia, Seymour, Will, and especially Yuna. Contrary to Single-Hit Units that rely on their skills alone, Summoners are somewhat similar but reliant on their MP Instead.
Support: Always Something In The Bag
One of the most dynamic units in Brave Exvius comes in the form of Supports. Compared to Healers that provide major healing, Support Units specialize in buffing allies using a wide variety of methods. Ace from the story is classified as a Support, but there are also subtypes of Support units that players need to check out in order to fully capitalize on their setups:
- Stat Boosters: Also called Bards, Stat Boosters do exactly what their name suggests, which is to boost the relevant stats of party members to suit specific needs. These have other effects on top of the stats they’re boosting, which makes them very interesting units. For instance, Gilbert, Lunera, Ramza, and Roy have specific songs that lock them in a “stance” for three turns before their effects are complete.
- Breakers: Also called Knights, these units are generally powerful-enough debuffers that focus on lowering one to many stats to help the party better eliminate their foes. Players need to learn the break percentages these units could muster and with what attribute in order to be most effective. Great Breakers include Basch, Delita, Ramza, Timothy, Steiner, and Warrior fo Light.
- Green Mages: A very specific subset under Support Units are the Green Mages, specifically those that boost elemental resistances. Green Mages aren’t always necessary in units, but can be extremely useful against Espers and trait-reliant bosses. Units like Cerius, Chloe, Minifilia, and Olif are reliable examples of Green Mages.
- Imperiler: Opposite the Green Mage is the Imperiler, which specializes in lowering elemental resistances of enemies instead. A lot of units already have this effect attached to them, called Imperil. A unit of another type that is dedicated to lowering an enemy’s stats can be a team’s Imperiler.
Consider Extra Team Types
Players may also consider using team-building tips to modify exactly the kind of team they’re building outside the context of their solo experience. After all, the game does offer players opportunity to provide assistance to friends, and when doing special events. Here are these extra team types that players may want to build in the future:
- Companion Team: This is generally a party that allies can more or less select whenever they choose the player from the friend unit screen. While players can place the same party in the Companion Team, it could help to consider putting optimal members for current events here, especially those that give specific bonuses for the event.
- Coliseum Team: This is generally a dedicated farming party for the Coliseum. It’s recommended to have a party with Thieves here, especially since a lot of good drops come from this game mode that their Steal skills can maximize.
Final Fantasy Brave Exvius is available for iOS, Android, and Amazon Fire.