One of the main draws that Bravely Default 2 has is its incredible Job system. Your four party members can swap Jobs freely outside of battles, and picking the right setup is a key part of gameplay. As you gain experience with Jobs you'll earn more active and passive skills, and it's important to know what works and what doesn't.
There are countless ways to set up your characters, but certain combos are certainly very effective. Some of these setups will slot fairly easily into a team, while others can be the lynchpin that you build an effective force around. The fun of Bravely Default 2, though, is experimenting — so use these as launchpads!
8 Phantom / Ranger
This Job combo is based on two things: dealing a lot of damage and utilizing status effects.At level 12, Phantoms gain a passive ability that makes all percentage-based abilities certain to work, and this can be paired really easily with the Ranger's Shadowbind to paralyze foes.
If equipped with the Phantom's Rewarding Results passive, they will even get an extra turn. They can then use the Ranger's ultimate ability, Grand Barrage, to devastate any enemies afflicted with the status.
7 Bard / White Mage
This combo makes for an incredible support character. Bards are really good in this game for the purposes of buffing your party all at once, and they can drastically improve your damage output. The problem is they can find themselves with little to do once your preferred buffs have been applied.
Enter White Mage and you've got a great box of tools, including healing, reviving, and status cleansing. The great thing about this combo is that it's effective regardless of which Job is the main one. Bards will be quicker and more able to deal damage with a weapon as an alternative, and White Mages will have far more potent healing spells.
6 Oracle / Arcanist
The Arcanist is a late-game job with powerful spells that can be a little tricky to use. Its ultimate spells target the entire battlefield, including your party — luckily, they are elemental spells and can be prepared for.
In addition to equipment that resists or absorbs elements, you can use the Oracle's abilities to buff an ally's resistances. This will let you use your best spells with abandon, and you'll have the rest of the Oracle's spell repertoire to boot. This includes Haste, Slow, and Reflect. An Oracle / Arcanist is a really versatile spellcaster that is easy to fit into any party.
5 Shieldmaster / Freelancer
A great tank that can also dish out the damage? The Shieldmaster Job is a defensive beast already, especially if you use it to dual-wield shields. Add in Freelancer as a Sub-Job and suddenly you can dish out damage in the thousands with the useful Body Slam ability, which is based on equipment weight.
This combo is great when paired with fragile teammates. Stack on the HP-increasing equipment pieces, make liberal use of Reprisal and Harsh Reprisal, and laugh as your enemies endanger themselves as they strike your impenetrable wall. It's a simple strategy that remains effective right up until the end of the game.
4 Hellblade / Oracle
Stock up on Magnifying Glasses or get the Freelancer's Examine ability handy, because this combo is all about elemental damage. This combo uses the Oracle's ability to weaken an enemy's resistance to a chosen element and then follows it up with multiple corresponding Blades abilities.
These abilities cost the user 25% of their HP and make it really easy to hit further high damage numbers with Minus Strike, which deals damage equal to how much HP you have missing. Deck this fighter out with HP-increasing accessories and you'll shred enemies to bits. Keep a healer handy, though, as this is a somewhat risky strategy.
3 Bastion / Vanguard
This combo makes for an absolutely fantastic tank that can dish out a ton of damage. It's a great upgrade to the Shieldmaster / Freelancer combo detailed above. Bastion has super abilities that nullify either physical or magical damage, and these can be key for difficult battles.
But where this combo really comes into its own is with Vanguard. Equip Sub-Job Specialty 2 (learned from the late-game Bravebearer) and your attack will skyrocket thanks to the Vanguard's passive that boosts strength according to your chance of being targeted.
An effective battle strategy is to use Enrage to guarantee being targeted, Default to boost your BP as a result of being struck, and then unleash your powerful physical attacks with your saved-up BP.
2 Salve-Maker / Monk
This combo is built around the Salve-Maker's passive ability that boosts item effects while not holding any weapons or shields. It's a great healing and support class anyway, but this passive boosts it to brilliant heights. With Monk as the Sub-Job, this character will be able to take advantage of their barehandedness, especially with Bare-Knuckle Brawler equipped.
When not using the Salve-Maker abilities that make this character a great support option, they can use Pressure Point for free thanks to Unencumbered. Alternatively, they could use Phoenix Flight followed by a large self-heal to deal an even larger amount of damage. This combo goes to great lengths to make a true hybrid character that remains very effective in any situation.
An alternative damage option for a barehanded Salve-Maker is in Freelancer's Body Slam ability, which doesn't rely on weapons too much and is always potent.
1 Beastmaster / Thief
The Beastmaster Job has the potential to make any character incredibly powerful — to ridiculous extents really. Upon reaching level 12, they learn Creature Comforts, a passive that increases the Beastmaster's stats based on how many monsters they've captured. This can boost their stats immensely.
Where does Thief come into this? Well, Godspeed Strike is one of the most potent abilities in the entire game and features heavily in boss strategy recommendations across the entire web. With enough monsters captured, maxing out your damage with Godspeed Strike is incredibly easy and probably one of the most efficient ways to deal damage.
TIP: A perfect method for capturing a ton of monsters quickly is to use a Phantom with Indiscriminate Rage (from Berserker) and Beast Whisperer (from Beastmaster). With this setup, you have a 100% chance of capturing every monster slain with your all-targeting physical attacks. Grind against easy enemies for a bit to really pump up your numbers.