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Spell Fencer

Spell Fencers are based on the ubiquitous Mystic Knight archetype from traditional Final Fantasy games, using magic to grant effects or power up physical attacks. The Spell Fencer class has balanced stats without really specializing in anything, so it's a poor choice as a main class in the long term. However, the Spell Fencer's skillset is amazing as a job command, complementing nicely with just about any physical classes in the game, and will likely become your main source of elemental damage by the mid-game.

Specialty: Anti-Magic[edit]

Raise Magic Defense by 50% for four turns when hit by a magic attack. The upper limit for M.Def is 150%. As its name suggests, Spell Fencers make good counters for opposing magic users as their magic defense automatically increases when struck by magic spells. It doesn't synergize particularly well with any Sword Magic, but it does give Spell Fencers a particularly strong stat for a jack-of-all-trades character.

Stat Affinities
HP B MP B
STR B INT B DEX C
VIT B MND B AGI C
Arms Aptitude
Swords S Rods E Bows E
Axes E Staves E Katana B
Spears D Daggers C Knuckles E
Armor Aptitude
Shields A Helms A Armor A

Job Command: Sword Magic[edit]

Level Name Cost Type Description
1 Sword Magic Lv.1 Depends on spell Command Enables the use of level 1 Sword Magic: Fire, Blizzard, and Thunder. Note that these cannot be used without the appropriate scroll. You should likely have these scrolls already by the time you get the Spell Fencer job, so it gives you a way to exploit elemental weaknesses through normal attacks right off the bat.
2 Sword Magic Lv. 2 Depends on spell Command Enables the use of level 2 Sword Magic: Silence, Poison, and Sleep. Note that these cannot be used without the appropriate scroll. Like the progression of a Black Mage, Spell Fencers learn to inflict status ailments right after the primary elemental spells. These spells usually see less use as status effects are ineffective against most bosses. The nature of sword magic gives it a chance to inflict status ailments on multiple foes from a single cast, making it a bit better than its Black Magic variant.
3 Firewall 1 Support Has a 50% chance to counterattack with fire damage when hit with a single-target physical attack. This is a mediocre counter passive that is only useful for how early you get it. The counter is effectively casting the level 1 Fire spell on the enemy, the damage of which quickly becomes negligible from around Chapter 2 and beyond. It's not worth the support slot at all.
4 Sword Magic Lv. 3 Depends on spell Command Enables the use of level 3 Sword Magic: Fira, Blizzara, and Thundara. Note that these cannot be used without the appropriate scroll. These second-tier elemental spells are more costly than level 1 spells, but they increase the damage of your attacks at a greater magnitude.
5 Auto-Aspir Blade 1 Support Imbue a weapon with an MP absorb effect for ten turns, starting from the beginning of the battle. Attacks with this weapon absorb the target's MP. Note that this can be overwritten by other Sword Magic. This support skill is terrible due to how poor Aspir generally is in this game. It's useless against bosses which have practically infinite MP, and against regular foes, normal attacks or a Silence cast should kill or disable any magic-using enemies. This support skill is even worse than manually casting Aspir, since it automatically cripples one of your attackers from the start of the battle.
6 Magic Armor 1 Support When using elemental Sword Magic, damage from the element in use is reduced for four turns. This support skill is situational at best. You will be using elemental Sword Magic mostly to target enemy weaknesses, so it is very rare that an enemy or even a combination of enemies will have attacks that one of them is weak to.
7 Sword Magic Lv. 4 Depends on spell Command Enables the use of level 4 Sword Magic: Drain, Aspir, and Fear. Note that these cannot be used without the appropriate scroll. The highlight of this job level is definitely Drain, which benefits Dark Knights amazingly well by offsetting the high self-damage inflicted when using their powerful arts.
8 Memento 3 Support Restore 50% of MP for all allies except yourself when you suffer a K.O. However, allies in the K.O. state do not recover MP. Except during Bravely Second, the upper limit for MP restoration is 999. While you'd usually want to avoid getting KO'd, this ability comes in handy during drawn-out battles, which can really drain your mages MP. It is not useful enough to warrant 3 support slots, which limits its use since any character can only use one 3-slot support skill at any time, causing it to be overshadowed by its competition.
9 Sword Magic Lv. 5 Depends on spell Command Enables the use of level 5 Sword Magic: Firaga, Blizzaga, and Thundaga. Note that these cannot be used without the appropriate scroll. Used for exploiting elemental weaknesses and greatly increases the strength of your attacks. Might be a bit costly for a non-dedicated magic user.
10 Anti-Magic 2 Support Raise Magic Defense by 50% for four turns when hit by a magic attack. The upper limit for M.Def is 150%. This support skill lets you use the Spell Fencer's specialty on other jobs. It is a bit costly at 2 support slots, and a bit situational as well, since magic attacks on enemies are few and far between, with most enemy abilities not recognized as such.
11 Sword Magic Amp 1 Support The MP cost of sword magic doubles, but the damage dealt while the ability is in effect is 1.25 times greater no matter which sword magic is used. Considering that most jobs that would want to use Sword Magic have average or worse MP, doubling the MP cost may make some of the stronger Sword Magic spells too prohibitive for repeated use.
12 Sword Magic Lv. 6 Depends on spell Command Enables the use of level 6 Sword Magic: Holy, Dark, and Death. Note that these cannot be used without the appropriate scroll. Notably, Holy must be obtained from a White Magic scroll instead of Black Magic like the rest of the Spell Fencer's spells. Holy and Dark are powerful and rare albeit expensive sources of light and dark damage. Death is useful for fighting normal monsters, giving you a chance to slay multiple enemies using a Brave attack with some luck.
13 M.Def Specialize 1 Support Lower Physical Defense by 25% and raise Magic Defense by 50%. Another situational support ability, stemming from the issue that most enemy attacks aren't strictly considered magic. Many elemental attacks are still considered physical moves unless they specifically share a name with a spell you can learn, so lowering your P.Def makes you more vulnerable to a huge range of enemies and attacks.
14 Phantom Weapon 3 Support The damage from the currently equipped weapon is added to the damage of magic attacks. This support ability is an odd inversion of the concept of Spell Fencers. Instead of using magic to boost physical attacks, it uses equipment to improve magic spells. The problem is, most mages tend to be equipped with Rods and Staves, which aren't as strong as other weapon types. While a Black Mage may appreciate the added damage from dual-wielded Rods, its not significant enough to warrant taking up 3 slots, especially when mages have a selection of much better 3-slot abilities.

Sword Magic[edit]

The Spell Fencer shares the same magic scrolls as Black Mages, with the exception of Holy which requires a White Mage scroll instead.

Name Level MP Description
Fire 1 5 Imbue a weapon with a low-power fire effect for ten turns. This will raise attack power by the amount of the magic effect.
Blizzard 1 5 Imbue a weapon with a low-power water effect for ten turns. This will raise attack power by the amount of the magic effect.
Thunder 1 5 Imbue a weapon with a low-power lightning effect for ten turns. This will raise attack power by the amount of the magic effect.
Silence 2 5 Imbue a weapon with the status ailment silence for ten turns. Has a 75% chance to cause silence in one target when attacking.
Poison 2 4 Imbue a weapon with the status ailment poison for ten turns. Has a 75% chance to cause poison in one target when attacking.
Sleep 2 5 Imbue a weapon with the status ailment sleep for ten turns. Has a 75% chance to cause sleep in one target when attacking.
Fira 3 15 Imbue a weapon with a medium-power fire effect for ten turns. This will raise attack power by the amount of the magic effect.
Blizzara 3 15 Imbue a weapon with a medium-power water effect for ten turns. This will raise attack power by the amount of the magic effect.
Thundara 3 15 Imbue a weapon with a medium-power lightning effect for ten turns. This will raise attack power by the amount of the magic effect.
Drain 4 8 Imbue a weapon with an HP absorb effect for ten turns. Attacks with this weapon will absorb HP from the target.
Aspir 4 1 Imbue a weapon with an MP absorb effect for ten turns. Attacks with this weapon will absorb MP from the target.
Fear 4 5 Imbue a weapon with the status ailment dread for ten turns. Has a 75% chance to cause dread in one target when attacking.
Firaga 5 45 Imbue a weapon with a high-power fire effect for ten turns. This will raise attack power by the amount of the magic effect.
Blizzaga 5 45 Imbue a weapon with a high-power water effect for ten turns. This will raise attack power by the amount of the magic effect.
Thundaga 5 45 Imbue a weapon with a high-power lightning effect for ten turns. This will raise attack power by the amount of the magic effect.
Holy 6 80 Imbue a weapon with a high-power light effect for ten turns. This will raise attack power by the amount of the magic effect.
Dark 6 80 Imbue a weapon with a high-power dark effect for ten turns. This will raise attack power by the amount of the magic effect.
Death 6 15 Imbue a weapon with the status ailment death for ten turns. Has a 75% chance to cause death in one target when attacking.

Job combinations[edit]

As stated multiple times before, the Spell Fencer works best as a job command rather than a character's primary skillset. Thus, it won't see a lot of use as a main job, only as long as needed to obtain the desired level of Sword Magic. Nevertheless, all offensive physical jobs like Monk, Ranger or Valkyrie can supplement a Spell Fencer's kit. This is also true for the opposite scenario, as offensive physical jobs would benefit the most from Sword Magic. It's especially desirable for Dark Knights, who can use Drain to negate self-damage from their Dark Arts.