As an RPG in the style of the classics, such as the early Final Fantasies and Dragon Quests, Octopath Traveler 2 has a robust job system that allows you to experiment with combinations of different classes. While every character in the game has their own class, you can also pick up licenses for them while exploring the world.

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Some of these jobs are more widely applicable than others, but none of them are 'bad' by any stretch. What you have to consider are the skills it provides, how useful it is in searching for and then exploiting weaknesses in battle, and the repertoire of support skills that you can unlock with it.

12 Thief

Octopath Traveler 2 - Throne fighting against Pursuers

The Thief job's two highlights are the ability to Steal items from enemies, which is very useful when up against tougher enemies and bosses who have valuable loot, and access to Swords and Daggers.

It has a Darkness attack to use, too, but this isn't very handy unless you're using the job on a mage character like Osvald. HP Thief is the best thing the Thief has going for it - self-sustain attached to two Dagger strikes is great, but mostly only when you're up against enemies weak to Daggers.

11 Conjurer

Octopath Traveler 2 - The fight against the Conjurer

Conjurer is locked behind one of the toughest challenges in Octopath Traveler 2 - the tower of Ku. This is a gauntlet of very tough bosses, culminating in a fight against the Conjurer herself, and boy, she's a doozy. In comparison, the Conjurer job itself is a little disappointing.

The main draws are the elemental blessing abilities, which will add an element to your party's physical attacks. These will let you target weaknesses with ease, but by the end of the game, you have superior methods for reliably Breaking enemies.

10 Apothecary

Octopath Traveler 2 - Castti facing two monsters in a cave

Castti is a perfectly decent character, but it's where she shines that exposes where Apothecary falls by the wayside. Castti's ability to mix healing or harmful concoctions doesn't transfer along with the rest of the Apothecary skillset, so it is decidedly less useful in the hands of other characters.

That said, it has some very useful Axe attacks - Sweeping Axe is a rare skill that targets the entire enemy party, and having some powerful single-target healing is a nice tool both in and out of battles.

9 Hunter

Octopath Traveler 2 - Ochette and Mahina in a forest

Like Apothecary, Hunter shines best when it's being used by Ochette, who supplements the limited skillset with her roster of monsters. Also like Apothecary, Hunter has a great Axe attack in Cleaving Smash, which is a self-buff attached to a pretty powerful hit.

Making Hunter more useful than the jobs that have come before it is Precise Shot, which is a very useful attack that hits multiple times. You can spread these shots out throughout the entire enemy party, and Bow is a very common weakness, so you can just imagine how great this attack is - you can control entire battles with Precise Shot.

8 Armsmaster

Octopath 2 Armsmaster House

You'd think that a job that lets you use every single weapon in the game would be fantastic - well, it is. Sixfold Strike will let you root out every weapon weakness an enemy has all for the low cost of 30 SP, and it'll deal a good amount of damage to boot.

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The drawback when it comes to Armsmaster is the fact that to use its more special abilities, you need to find and equip specific weapons. These weapons are powerful, but there are far stronger alternatives to find, making Armsmaster a bit lackluster - you either have the best equipment, or you have access to your skills at the cost of lower damage. It's a frustrating tradeoff.

7 Merchant

Octopath Traveler 2 - Partitio in a crowd

Merchant's abilities vary greatly in power and usefulness. Arrow of Fortune and Ember are pretty lackluster on their own and are very situational, while Collect has been nerfed terribly when compared to its previous game counterpart.

The good skills, however, are very good. Donate BP is one of the most important keys to battle manipulation in the game, allowing you to set up terrific bursts of damage or utility with short setup windows. In addition, Hired Help provides access to some incredibly powerful attacks, especially if you've the money to afford the most expensive mercs. Finally, Sidestep is a very useful defensive ability, especially if you can pair it with a way to spread it around, like Agnea's Latent Ability.

6 Inventor

Octopath Traveler 2 - Ochette as an Inventor

Inventor is an odd job. Like Armsmaster, you have to do some extra legwork to unlock its abilities, which are all themed around wacky and zany inventions. With Changeable Catapult and Elemental Bomb Bottle, you have two very useful Breaker skills, and Springy Boots is a very potent turn-manipulator.

Where Inventor really shines, however, is in its support skills - Upgraded Accessories turns some good pieces of equipment into astoundingly good ones, and Fruits of Labor is possibly the best defensive skill in the entire game, as it boosts your defenses depending on how many skills you've learned. At late stages of the game, this is invaluable.

5 Cleric

Octopath Traveler 2 - Temenos arriving in Crackridge

There really isn't much to say about why Cleric is a very good skill. Healing is very good, especially when it's party-wide. Light damage is rare and this job has both single-target and multi-target applications. Sacred Shield is a wonderful defensive move, especially when boosted.

Simply put, a party with a Cleric in it is not going to complain. It has a very nice balance of offense and defense, and Mystical Staff is a surprisingly potent Breaker skill that also recovers the user's SP, which is very nice in a pinch.

4 Dancer

Octopath Traveler 2 - Agnea using Dagger Dance

Dancer has some of the best utility moves in the game, largely thanks to Lion Dance and Peacock Strut - stat buffs provide considerable boosts in this game, and having easy access to these is the best way to capitalize on your burst windows in a fight.

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Add to this the fact that Dancer provides access to Wind attacks, which are staggeringly rare in Octopath Traveler 2, and you have a very useful job even before you consider the Break power of Ruinous Kick, the turn manipulation of Stimulate, or the potentially game-breaking Bewildering Grace.

3 Warrior

Octopath Traveler 2 - Hikari walking through burning streets

When you get right down to it, winning battles in Octopath Traveler 2 is a simple task: you need only reduce your enemies' HP to zero. This is why Warrior is a fantastic class - it has the potential for ruinous levels of damage.

Not only does Warrior have one of the most damaging skills in the entire game, Brand's Thunder, but with Aggressive Slash and the combo of Incite and Vengeful Blade, it's also a very potent job when it comes to Breaking enemies. Add Abide to this, and you really cannot go wrong.

2 Scholar

Octopath Traveler 2 - Osvald threatening Captain Stenvar with fire

While Scholar is lacking in utility, it makes up for that by being incredibly good at what it does do. Most enemies in the game are weak to a few elements, with the majority of them being either Fire, Lightning, or Ice - this makes Scholar a very reliable job to use, whether it's with Osvald or someone else.

In addition to damage spells, which can of course be boosted to great heights with Advanced Magic and Alephan's Wisdom, Scholar also has the incredibly useful Analyze skill. This takes all the guesswork out of hunting for weaknesses and also reveals your target's HP total to boot.

1 Arcanist

Octopath Traveler 2 - Secret Island Maze

The most secret of the four secret jobs, Arcanist is a brilliant job. Not only does it have access to party-wide Light and Darkness attacks - something you'd otherwise need Soulstones to mimic - these attacks heal the party's HP or SP simultaneously. They're costly, but worth exploiting.

Add to this Arcanist's utility options, and you have a package that anyone can benefit from. Being able to spread status buffs with a single turn of setup is a very good quality to have and synergizes perfectly with so many other jobs, and it has so many skills that manipulate existing status effects lets you construct game-changing combos.

NEXT: Octopath Traveler 2: How To Level Up Quickly