12 best Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin jobs, ranked

Find the job that’s right for you.

Stranger of Paradise jobs ranked
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The job system is an integral part of Stranger of Paradise Final Fantasy Origin, and it takes plenty of inspiration from past titles. If you’re familiar with the series’ trademark job system you’ll instantly know what a lot of these jobs do, but Stranger of Paradise’s Souls-like gameplay puts a bit of a twist on everything. There are essentially three tiers of jobs. Leveling up the starting jobs will unlock Advanced Jobs that combine skills and weapons, then leveling up Advanced Jobs will later unlock Expert Jobs. With that in mind, we’ll go through the 12 best jobs in Stranger of Paradise.

Best Starting Jobs

Ronin is the only starting job that can use katanas.

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12. Ronin

  • Ronin is easily the strongest of all the starting jobs, as it comes with both high strength and high speed. This job has high damage output, especially if you learn to use Senshin Stance and Iai-Giri effectively. Iai-Giri is especially useful as it charges quickly and lets Jack rush forward with a devastating attack, which can be the perfect move to use against bosses that have tricky timing.

11. Swordfighter

  • Swordfighter absolutely shines in the early game because of its Interception ability, which when active lets you block and instantly nullify damage from a melee attack, then counter with your own. Going up against tougher enemies and bosses with this ability is a huge help. Because of its ability to equip shields, the Swordfigher also has high defense, which helps even more.

10. Marauder

  • Marauder has some of the highest damage output of the starting classes, and it’s especially adept at dealing with groups of enemies. The Upheaval ability applies debuffs to enemies that it hits, on top of the damage it causes, meaning you have an easy way of increasing your damage against bosses.

9. Pugilist

  • Pugilist is the best choice if you’re looking for a “fast” early job, as it has much better combos than Duelist. Pugilists can easily dash in and unleash a flurry of attacks, only to dash back out before an enemy can even get an attack off. You might have trouble using Pugilist as your main job, but it’s a great one to pair with a more defensive-focused job like Swordfighter.

Best Advanced Jobs

Unlike many games, Stranger of Paradise’s mages can cause decent melee damage too.

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8. White Mage

  • Advanced jobs are where the mages really start shining, and White Mage is absolutely crucial, especially in boss battles. The White Mage’s Regen and Cure are absolutely vital to have in boss battles, as you’ll only have access to a few potions. Its Holy spell can also cause tremendous damage to undead enemies (including making short work of the Dragon Zombie boss). While you should focus on ranged attacks, Stranger of Paradise’s White Mage can just as easily get in the thick of things and bludgeon enemies with its mace.

7. Black Mage

  • Black Mage is a massive improvement over the basic Mage class, as it deals more damage. One of the best reasons to consider playing Black Mage is that you’ll have the ability to exploit virtually any enemy weakness, and the Flare and Meteor spells are wildly destructive.

6. Warrior

  • The Warrior’s War Cry ability is one of the most useful of any Advanced Job, as it staggers nearby enemies and gives you a brief regen effect. Because of the limited healing options in Stranger of Paradise, any extra healing is great, but the high strength and damage output make Warrior shine above the rest.

5. Dragoon

  • The Dragoon’s reach is its biggest asset, especially when fighting bosses that fly or have close-range melee attacks. The job’s ability, Jump, lets you avoid any damage while in the air, before slamming down and causing good damage. The upgraded Jump ability is also fantastic as it lets you move forward when jumping, letting you time it perfectly to avoid attacks and still cause damage.

Best Expert Jobs

In order to unlock Expert Jobs you’ll need to purchase the corresponding nodes on three Advanced Jobs.

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4. Paladin

  • If you haven’t noticed a trend, any job that provides extra healing is a good choice in Stranger of Paradise. In the case of the Paladin, it has a tremendous defense, and Holy Fang lets you recover HP any time you land a hit. If you equip armor that raises job affinity, you can also drastically increase your max HP as a Paladin.

3. Sage

  • Black Mage and White Mage are already great jobs on their own, but once you combine the two you have a near unstoppable job. Not only can the Sage use all Black and White spells, but each time they cast one they’ll earn a sigil of the corresponding color. The more sigils you have, the faster you’ll cast White or Black magic. There’s no good reason Sage shouldn’t be in your endgame lineup.

2. Breaker

  • As the name implies, Breaker excels at causing damage and destroying the enemy’s break gauge. The job has awesome strength and access to the devastating Zantetsuken ability. Enemies that are killed by Zantetsuken are instantly eliminated with a soul burst, which will keep your MP up and allow you to use even more skills. You’ll also have access to a selection of strong weapons including Greatswords, Katanas, Lances, and Axes.

1. Ninja

  • Ninja is the penultimate speed class in Stranger of Paradise, and its Ninjutsu abilities are incredibly unique as they don’t use MP but Ninja Tools. Just like with MP, however, Ninja Tolls can be restored at cubes. Ninjas can unleash a flurry of attacks quickly, and having both Ninjutsu and your regular MP attacks means you have more options than ever.
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