It allows you to customize your party on the fly without any penalty, and offers an almost limitless amount of possibilities. If you ever struggle against a boss you can simply change the jobs of your current party to try again. It lets you adapt to any situation and makes every playthrough feel totally different. There are 26 jobs in total in FFV – and many of them allow you to learn magic spells. However you don’t actually learn the spells by leveling up the job, you simply get the ability to cast those spells. A lot of the early FF games had you purchase these spells, or find them as treasure – and FFV isn’t any different. So which ones are worth tracking down? For this ranking I’ll share some of the best magic spells for each job in FFV, and where you can find them.
White Magic
Your White Mage has one job: to keep your party alive and healthy. And these are some of the best spells in the White Magic family.
Curaga (Cure3)
This will be your White Mage’s primary healing spell towards the end of the game. One cast of this will heal your party for large amounts of HP – and unless your party is at full health then you’ll find yourself casting this on every turn. Curaga also deals damage to undead enemies. So casting this on a party of undeads will decimate them. Do not let your White Mage leave home without it! Curaga can be purchased in Moore.
Arise
If for any reason your Curaga spamming doesn’t prevent your party members from being KOed then you’ll want to cast this on them ASAP. Not only will it revive them, it’ll also restore them back to full HP. Arise will also instantly kill undead enemies, allowing your White Mage to occasionally get on the offensive. Arise can be purchased in Phantom Village.
Holy
As its name implies, this is a holy elemental magic spell. For the meager amount of 20 MP your White Mage can deal some serious damage. And if ever you have a free turn where no healing is required, then firing off a blast of Holy offers great offensive support for the rest of your party. You can get Holy by defeating Minotaur in Fork Tower. He’ll attempt to cast it as his final attack but will fail due to having no MP (oops).
Black Magic
Acting as the natural opposite of the White Mage, Black Mages exist to simply deal as much magic damage as possible per turn. Sadly they lose much of their effectiveness in the endgame – but still have their uses.
Firaga/Blizzaga/Thundaga (Fire3/Ice3/Bolt3)
This may seem like cheating but honestly the entire roster of Level 5 Black Magic spells is the bulk of your Black Mage’s offensive output. There aren’t many better methods of dealing high amounts of damage to single target enemies that have an elemental weakness. You can purchase all three of these in Moore.
Break
Break is a super effective way of dealing with strong random mobs, especially in World 2. It inflicts petrify, and is a cheap way of instantly KO’ing enemies – although considerably loses its effectiveness later in the game due to enemy resistances. Break can be purchased in Regole, Castle of Bal, Quelb and Castle Surgate.
Flare
Flare is the Black Mage’s strongest spell, and the only downside is that since it’s non-elemental, it can’t take advantage of elemental weakness. It is still incredibly strong though, and will deal a hell of a lot of damage to any enemy that doesn’t have high magic resistance. You can get Flare by defeating Omniscient in Fork Tower.
Time Magic
Time Mages have the power to control time in various ways, offering both supportive and offensive capabilities. And if you’re playing with time magic in FFV then here’s a few spells worth tracking down.
Teleport (Exit, Telepo)
Teleport has a number of uses in FFV. When used in battle it acts as an instant escape, and when used in a dungeon it warps you back to the world map. Final Fantasy V doesn’t really have many annoying dungeons. But this definitely saves time if ever you need to get out quick. Can be purchased in Phantom Village or found in Castle Bal.
Hastega (Haste2)
Once you get this spell, you’ll find yourself using it at the start of every boss encounter. It grants Haste to your entire party, instantly giving you a speed advantage. It only costs 15MP too – so if ever you get dispelled then it’s fairly cheap to reapply the buff. Hastega is purchased in Moore.
Quick
When this spell is cast, it allows the caster to get 2 uninterrupted turns. You can use these turns to set up protective buffs or spam offensive magic. The best use of this spell is when used as a Mime. You can pair Dualcast and Quick together to get 5 attacks off at once – and with the right abilities you can trivialize many of the game’s bosses. Quick can be purchased in Phantom Village.
Calls/Summons
FFV is arguably where summons shine the most in this series. Many of them are useful, and some of them offer the strongest AOE attacks in the game. This was probably the hardest list to narrow down since at least half of them are useful. Also bear in mind that all but 2 summons are completely optional.
Golem
Golem can be recruited fairly early in the game, and will remain useful up until the endgame, as he offers incredible amounts of support to your party and can cheese many battles all on his own. When used, Golem will act as a shield against all physical damage. The amount he nullifies is based on your level. But honestly there’s nothing stopping you spamming this over and over to make a mockery of most boss battles. Golem is a random encounter in Drakenvale and will be recruited if you defeat the 2 enemies he appears with. He can also be found in the Rift if you missed him the first time.
Phoenix (Phenix)
Hands-down the best defensive summon, not just in FFV, but any game it appears in. When you cast Phoenix in battle it’ll deal fire damage to all enemies AND it’ll revive one of your KO’ed party members to full HP. It is a little MP costly to use, but considering there are so many ways to restore MP in FFV, this downside is pretty much negligible. Rewarded for completing the tricky Phoenix Tower.
Bahamut (Bahmut)
Bahamut is one of the FF series staples – and is consistently one of the most powerful attacks you can muster.
And thankfully that’s no different in FFV.
Bahamut is a non-elemental AOE summon that’s powerful enough on its own.
Once you begin to Dualcast and Mime-chain it, then honestly every boss in the game becomes a punching bag.
To obtain this powerful summon you must defeat him in North Mountain. He’s one of the hardest bosses in the game, but the reward is too great to pass up.
Sword Magic
Sword magic in FFV is one of the game’s best kept secrets. Although at its core it just seems like you’re attacking with a base element or status effect, the outcome is often much more than that. Late game Sword Magic has to be some of the best attacks in the game. These spells are usable as long as the Sword Mage job is a high enough level, and if you already possess the spell in your inventory.
Firaga/Blizzaga/Thundaga/Holy/Bio (Fire3/Ice3/Bolt3)
I’m grouping these together, as although the effects are different, the damage multipliers are the same. When used against heavy enemies (most bosses), if they’re weak to the element then they’ll take 4 x damage and the attack will ignore defense. When used against non-heavy enemies, if they are weak to the element then the attack will outright kill them.
Drain
This one is great for giving you a way to restore MP each turn and deal damage at the same time. Be careful though, as if you hit an undead enemy, the effect is reversed and you’ll heal them at the expense of your own HP.
Flare
In my opinion, the effects of Flare Blade vastly overshadow that of the base spell. Using this offers no elemental bonus – but does add 100 to your attack, and will ignore 75% of the target’s defense. You can get the most out of this attack with a combination of Dual Wield and Rapid Fire. This gives you 8 attacks with a heavy attack bonus and significant defense piercing.
