Mages are the designated spell casters in Final Fantasy games. They rely on using a myriad of spells for offensive or defensive purposes. Oftentimes they are at the back lines, charging up their abilities until it’s the right time to cast them on allies or enemies.
Many Mages have been introduced throughout numerous Final Fantasy titles, and have since branched out into different types. From casting damaging elemental spells to providing healing and buffs to the party or summoning beasts that possess immense powers, here are the various types of Mages that are available in the different Final Fantasy games, explained.
8 White Mage
- Notable White Mages: Minwu (Final Fantasy 2), Aerith (Final Fantasy 7), Dagger (Final Fantasy 9), Yuna (Final Fantasy 10).
The White Mage is synonymous with light and all things that heal and protect party members. As White Mages, their role in the group is to provide healing and buff their party with status effects as well as remove status ailments. More powerful versions of White Mages are named differently throughout other Final Fantasy games: the Devout, Cleric, or Bishop. One of the main recurring themes of White Mages is that the class is tied to an in-game religion or belief that usually sides in the Light or Good.
That said, White Mages are seen more as support characters and are typically not a good option for offense: they usually do not have strong physical attacks and defense. However, they can be used offensively against undead units or those afflicted with the Zombie status, since White Mages’ healing magic will deal damage to them instead of healing them.
7 Black Mage
- Notable Black Mages: Palom (Final Fantasy 6), Vivi (Final Fantasy 9), Lulu (Final Fantasy 10)
Black Mages are more offense-based magic users in the Final Fantasy games. They are masters in controlling Black Magic which often refers to the elements to attack and deal elemental damage on enemies. Black Mages usually start with three basic elemental spells: Fire, Ice, and Lightning. These have stronger versions that can be learned as players progress through the games. Fire and Ice often counter each other in many Final Fantasy titles, while Lightning is generally a good damaging spell that is strong against metallic or liquid enemies. Flare is their strongest Magic spell that deals massive non-elemental damage to its targets.
Many consider Black Mages to be glass cannons since they can dish out tons of damage on enemies, but are susceptible to being quickly incapacitated due to their use of light armor. Some games also see them cast spells that give status ailments like Poison, Blind, or Sleep to provide some utility during battles.
6 Red Mage
- Notable Red Mages: Red Mage is a class that players can assign their units. In other games, aspects of Red Mages can be acquired and bestowed on different characters, imbuing them with Red Mage skills, specifically Dual-casting.
Mixing swords with sorcery, Red Mages are more than willing to take the fight to their enemies while taking advantage of their knowledge with magic. Red Mages were first introduced in Final Fantasy, and have become a staple class in subsequent titles.
True to their classification, conventional Red Mages are typically clad in red garments or armor and wield swords. They can also cast basic White and Black Mage spells, but eventually have access to more Red Mage-exclusive spells like Jolt and Dual-casting: all of which lean to more offensive options for the caster and their party. Since they are versatile, Red Mages start with generally lower stats, and players have to grind to unlock their potential. But once Red Mages acquire their powerful spells and abilities, they are dangerous powerhouses.
5 Blue Mage
- Notable Blue Mages: Quistis (Final Fantasy 8), Quina (Final Fantasy 9), Kimahri (Final Fantasy 10)
Blue Mages, also known as Blue Sorcerers, are unique spellcasters who learn various spells from beasts and monsters they fight. They are more well-rounded in both offense and defense compared to other Mages and can usually take more hits and dish them back. Most of the time, Blue Mages can act as tanks for their parties, since they want to get hit by attacks for the chance of learning them.
As for their skills, Blue Mages generally need to get attacked by an enemy skill that they can learn, specifically from monsters. In Final Fantasy 9, Quina can consume enemy monsters to learn skills, while Kimahri in Final Fantasy 10 can use Lancet on monsters to learn unique moves. This can be pivotal in most cases, since Blue Mages can cast powerful control magic learned from beasts and put their targets at a disadvantage.
4 Green Mage
- Notable Green Mages: Ktjn (Final Fantasy 12: The Zodiac Age), Syrenead Sie Hyskarias and Green King Verre (Final Fantasy Tactics A2: Grimoire of the Rift)
One of the more recent Mages in Final Fantasy, Green Mages support their team by providing a myriad of buffs and debuffs whenever a battle ensues. Originally hailing in Ivalice, players only had access to Green Magicks in Final Fantasy 12.
Using Green Mages relies on strategy, since their spells’ potency are reliant on what’s happening on the battlefield. Their signature spells are Protect, Blind, and their numerous Null and -Bar spells. Protect is often used on allies to prevent them from being damaged, while Blind is a debuff used on enemies to increase the chances of their attacks missing their targets. Meanwhile, the Null and -Bar are cast to either ally or enemy to negate or increase resistance to elemental effects and certain status ailments or even health recovery.
Most of Green Mages’ spells were relegated as secondary spells across all other Mage classes when Final Fantasy 12: the Zodiac Age introduced job classes. Green Mages made a formal appearance as a Mage Class in Final Fantasy Tactics A2: Grimoire of the Rift, although as a Viera-exclusive job.
3 Time Mage
- Notable Time Mages: Ashe (Final Fantasy 12)
Time Mages is a job class that provides its team various advantages during battles. They are notorious for manipulating time which amounts to speeding up allies or slowing enemies to lessen their effectiveness.
The Final Fantasy Tactics games gave players the chance to use Time Mages as part of their parties: like most mages, they are usually better behind the front lines and cast their Time Magic on allies to give them Haste and other buffs to make them attack, move, or cast their spells faster. Conversely, casting Slow on enemies hinder their actions, further tilting the tides of battle to the players’ favor. When push comes to shove, they can also cast damaging spells such as Gravity and Meteor, but these spells usually take time to cast. Luckily, Time Mages can also alter the speed of their spell casts.
2 Summoner
- Notable Summoners: Rydia (Final Fantasy 4), Garnet (Final Fantasy 9), Yuna (Final Fantasy 10)
Considered to be one of the stronger Mage classes, the Summoner is a job class that harnesses the power of familiars to wreak havoc on the battlefield. These magical beasts, usually called Summons, are often elemental-based and deal massive damage against enemies at the expense of costing more to cast than other offensive magic spells.
Summoners have seen many appearances in Final Fantasy games, as do their Summons: Ifrit, Shiva, Ramuh, and Bahamut are powerful recurring Summons that help clear low-level enemies or damage enemy bosses. Other Summons can heal or buff the team or debuff enemies: it’s up to the player to choose which Summons to cast during battles. Summoners also have access to Black and White Magic, but most of the time they stick to Summons since these are more powerful versions of the spells.
1 Sage
- Notable Sages: Tellah (Final Fantasy 4)
Sages are the ultimate spell casters in most Final Fantasy games. They possess vast amounts of arcane knowledge and can use Black and White Magic and their more potent versions. One major downside to Sages, however, is they usually have the least HP and Speed stats and are not trained with wielding conventional weapons.
In some games, Sages also have less MP than other Mages to compensate with their access to all kinds of Magic spells. In Final Fantasy 14, Sages take the role of Green Mages and emphasize on healing, shielding and buffing their allies.
Final Fantasy 16 launches on June 22 for PS5.