Bravely Default (3DS) – The Ultimate Party Guide

Bravely Default gives players a lot of choice in crafting their party. The game features 24 unique jobs, while also allowing each character to use abilities from a second job. On top of this, players may also mix and match up to five support abilities from all 24 jobs. There are a vast number of job and ability combinations, and players will often need to change them drastically to suit the unique needs of each boss battle.

Although I had a lot of fun experimenting with different jobs, I was hard-pressed to find a job combination that I didn’t need to constantly modify.

This became incredibly problematic during the Boss Rush of Chapter 8, where you are forced to face every single asterisk-wielding boss in the game at once. The bosses come in groups of three or four, and the game gives you no rest in between fights. You aren’t able to change jobs or abilities in between fights, which means that you need to find a combination that will work against anything.

I was defeated during the boss rush several times before I came up with a successful strategy, and this combination will prepare you for almost any enemy that the game has to throw at you.

Your main jobs will be:

1. Knight
2. Salve-Maker
3. Salve-Maker
4. Knight

The secondary jobs will be:

1. Templar (for the first knight)
2. White Mage (for the first Salve-Maker)
3. Spiritmaster (for the second Salve-Maker)
4. Whatever you want (for the second knight) ->I would probably recommend Vampire, Spell Fencer or Performer

Your Support Abilities will be:

For the first knight:

1. Hasten World (costs 2)
2. Dual Shields
3. BP Recovery
4. Rise from Dead

For the first Salve-Maker:

1. Angelic Ward
2. Speed 20% Up (Costs 2)
3. BP Recovery
4. Default Guard
5. Rise from Dead

For the second Salve-Maker:

1. Angelic Ward
2. Speed 20% Up (Costs 2)
3. Rise from Dead
4. BP Recovery

For the second Knight:

1. Physical Defense 20% up (Costs 2)
2. Dual Shields
3. Rise from Dead
4. BP Recovery

The equipment you will need:

For the first Knight:

1. Two shields (no weapons)
2. Heavy armor (to boost defense)
3. An accessory to boost speed (Hermes Sandals)

For the first Salve-Maker:

1. A good Staff
2. An accessory to greatly boost speed (Hermes Shoes)

For the second Salve-Maker:

1. An accessory that boosts speed (Hermes Sandals)

For the second knight:

1. Two shields (no weapons)
2. Heavy armor
3. An accessory to boost speed (Hermes Sandals)

Abilities you must have:

For the knights:

1. Super Charge (level 14)
2. Dual Shields (Level 11)
3. Ironclad (Level 4)
4. Full Cover (Level 10)

For the Salve-Makers:

1. Compounding (Level 1)
2. Inoculate (Level 4)
3. Widen Area (Level 8)

For the White Mage (secondary job):

1. Dispel (Level 9 – Level 4 White Magic)
2. Arise (Level 13 – Level 6 White Magic)
3. Curaga (Level 13 – Level 6 White Magic)
4. Esunaga (Level 11 – Level 5 White Magic)

For the Spiritmaster (secondary job):

1. Fairy Ward (Level 11)
2. Greater Spirit Ward (level 10)/Enigma(Level 13)
3. Convert BP (Level 5)
4. Stillness (Level 8)

For the Templar (secondary job):

1. Rampart (Level 7)

General Strategy:

Begin by having your Salve-Makers Brave once, and use Compounding to create a Giant’s Draft (Made from a Beast Liver + Dragon Fang) on themselves and another Knight. By doing this, every member of your party will have their HP doubled on the first turn.

Knights can Default or use Full Cover on the first turn, and Super Charge every turn after that (which they will be able to thanks to Hasten World).

Your Salve-Maker (with the white mage ability) can heal your party, dispel enemy buffs, use esunaga to remove status ailments, and revive dead party members.

Your Salve-Maker (with the Spiritmaster ability) can use Fairy Ward to prevent status ailments, Greater Spirit Ward/Enigma to dull or prevent elemental damage, and Convert BP whenever more BP is needed. Thanks to Hasten World, I’ve found that I can have this character Brave once, use Convert BP and then Greater Spirit Ward every single turn. This is really useful for enemies like Airy who make you weak to all elements and hit you with an elemental attack immediately after.

With your Salve-Makers, you can also use:

Why this party setup is effective:

By equipping your knights two shields, you are significantly increasing their defense. This is not only important for reducing damage, but increasing their attack power as well!

By using Super Charge, your knights can use their shields to attack, and can easily do 9999 damage if you have good shields, armour, and the Support Abilities Physical Defense 10, 20 or 30% Up equipped.

By having such a high defense, it will be very common to see enemies dealing a meager 1 damage to your knights!

Having two knights is important, because it allows you to attack twice per turn (assuming you have Hasten World equipped) and the ability to use Full Cover on your remaining two party members – meaning your entire party can withstand most single-target physical attacks. That’s also two members that you won’t have to worry about healing quite so often.

By having two Salve-Makers, you can begin every boss battle by doubling every part member’s HP (with Giant’s Drafts). This is incredibly helpful, and has allowed me to get through most boss fights without having to revive anyone (since you can fully heal your HP before it runs out). I especially love that enemies cannot remove the effect of the Giant’s Drafts, even with Dispel.
Salve-Makers can also provide the same stat boosts as a Performer, can prevent status ailments with Inoculate, and can easily deal 9999 damage with Dragon Breaths (thanks to the Giant’s Drafts). Using Dragon Breaths are also very useful because they will deal damage regardless of how much defense your enemy has, and can break through Reflect, the Templar’s Rampart, and even Chaugmar (the Fire Crystal guardian)’s defensive mode.

Salve-Makers can cast re-raise, and can easily restore their own MP, making them very valuable assests to your team.

The White Mage’s magic can allow you to easily heal, revive and remove status ailments from your party. They can also remove buffs from enemies, which can be very useful.

Your Spiritmaster can reduce, nullify or even absorb magic damage for your entire party with Greater Spirit Ward, Enigma, Spirit Ward or Adaptation. Because most of their abilities use BP, it is very helpful to have Convert BP combined with Hasten World, and the ability to craft Dry Ethers as a Salve-Maker. Your Spirtmaster can also use Stillness to nullify all damage for two turns, allowing you to build up BP for your knights’ Shield Charge, one of your Spiritmaster’s abilities or attack with some extra Dragon Breaths.

Finally, while not necessary, it is always nice to have the Templar’s Rampart. As you gain experience and reach higher levels, Rampart will rarely be needed, but it is very helpful initially.